


In a Garden of Red Roses

by Bleeding_Cosmos



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Fluff, George bakes!!, Happy Ending, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Mutual Pining, No Angst, Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Tags to be added, bbh and skeppy are just there, betaed by my best friend lmao, like he is literally a baker it's his job, niki and puffy own a flower shop, no nsfw!!, rated teen and up for swearing/cussing, sbi live in a cabin in the woods, sort of but you'll see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 41,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28459680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bleeding_Cosmos/pseuds/Bleeding_Cosmos
Summary: He looks down to see a grassy floor of the garden surprisingly appearing to be trimmed. He quickly looks around the grass promptly finding the source of the noise. A grown man in a mask with a sword by his side laying on his back. And as all brave travelers such as himself would do, the brunette screeches. The sheer force of the scream sends him tumbling into the garden head first.in which George gets his horse stolen for one day and ends up in a mess with a masked man
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 92
Kudos: 179





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> YO thanks for checking this out idk what to say really but enjoy :) (And as always don't send this to cc's, and respect all the cc's boundaries! Don't force this onto the real people I'm just writing about their streaming personas!)

Stumbling over his own tired feet with a basket of goods in his hands George leans against a tree letting out a breathy sigh thinking to himself, _Who do these guys think they are making me travel into the bloody woods with no horse just for some goddamn bread._ _’_ Quickly pushing himself off the tree with a huff the brunette continues to walk, longing for his trusted horse that was taken from under his nose by his own ‘best friend.’ All just to travel to see his friends in another village, Karl and Quackity, curse them. George continues to walk his legs aching pulling his jacket tighter around his shoulders, 

“I’m going to beat his ass as soon as I get back,” he mutters. Begrudgingly continuing his way down the sunlit path in front of him. He’s endlessly thankful for the sunlight because even the bravest of souls can fall trick to strangely shaped shadows. The man’s brown hair was already tussled by the wind and trying to fix it at this point was useless.

He quickly glances at his surroundings and thinks to himself, ‘ _I don’t think I’ve been down this way before._ ’ He looks up at the tree’s branches heavy with thick ivy, there was just so much piss-yellow everywhere it took up most of his vision. At this point, George was starting to get a bit worried he’s wandered from the path he normally takes down into the woods and is now somewhere much denser, scarier. He, still exhausted, tries to walk as quickly as he could, his nerves pricking at even the smallest of noises. He thinks to himself, _‘It’s the middle of the day you coward pick your head up,’_ And despite this little ‘pep talk’ he continues to scan his surroundings at every bit of movement. 

He jumps at the noise of a soft whistling coming from what he assumed was his right. He, ever so curious, wanders closer wondering what (who?) was whistling the soft tune that almost sounded familiar to him. He silently makes his way through the brush trying his best not to step on stray branches or foliage. He clutches his basket close to his chest thinking, _‘I’m going to get myself killed.’_ but as the curious fool he is, he kept walking.

George had a decent amount of combat training from Sapnap who was training to be a knight for the royal court, and he kept a small knife tucked away in his basket for any stray animals he may cross paths with. But if whatever he’s about to run into him has more upper body strength than the average kingdom guard he is so utterly fucked.

Eventually, he makes it to a huge wall which seems to be where the soft noise is coming from. Peering around all he can see is ivy climbing the rocks, but there didn’t seem to be any cracks he could peer through. The noise was at this point just so insanely annoying, _‘why is it just the same bloody tune over and over again, geez just mix it up a bit,’_ Still he continues to look for a way to at least peer through the worn-down wall, but upon further inspection and some relative guessing, he just decided climbing would be a good option. He looks around quickly finding some loser rocks that do suspiciously look like they’ve been positioned into footholds, but all the brunette knew was more convenience for himself and hiked himself over. 

The first thing he sees is yellow in every direction; it was _all_ yellow. What he assumed were thousands upon thousands of flowers were staring back at him in so many different varieties but they were all the same dull shade of yellow which his brain is only now recognizing as red. And with that thought in mind he realized this garden must be absolutely stunning to the average viewer, he curses his colorblindness.

He leans on the top of the wall pitching a little more forward than he should be comfortable with, but he was so entranced by the overgrown garden he couldn’t bring himself to care. He looked at the short weathered walls covered in hundreds of types of flowers and he looked at the three walls he could see and the small pathway that he assumed to lead to a less abandoned part of the garden. 

The brunette is still gaping at the flowers and the sheer overgrown beauty of it all when he suddenly tunes back into the whistling. He sharply looks down to see a grassy floor of the garden surprisingly appearing to be trimmed. He quickly looks around the grass promptly finding the source of the noise. A grown man in a mask with a sword by his side laying on his back. And as all brave travelers such as himself would do, the brunette screeches. The sheer force of the scream sends him tumbling into the garden head first. The whistling stopped and the man shot up his head darting from side to side until he saw the brunette laying face first in a mix of grass and _who knows what_ _._ The brunette quickly picks himself up gathering his things and backing himself back into the wall glaring at the masked man. 

"Who are you?” The masked man asks as he stares and the man in the corner,

“I should be asking you that, you have a creepy smiley face mask on,” at that the masked man laughs a little picking himself on the ground and noticeably twirling his sword a little before sheathing it. George stands there staring and thinking to himself, _‘Is he trying to show off right now? I have bigger things to worry about than your sword skills, uh no wait no that’s probably the exact thing I should worry about right now,_ He quietly tries to think of any solution to get out of this alive but his minds were only drawing blanks because goddamn was this man tall why the hell is he even that tall. The man speaks again,

“What’s your name? Are you from around here?” The brunette stares directly up into the man’s eyes(?) trying not to literally scream in front of this man with a freaky what looked to be a plastic mask and a whole ass sword. 

“I don’t know exactly where I am I just hopped out of the motherfucking woods into this garden-”

“You fell in here, face first actually,” The man cuts him off with a certain lit to his voice which could make you only assume the man is smiling. The brunette now slightly angry with furrowed brows shot back, 

“Oh, so you think you’re funny don’t you?” He knows he should _not_ be talking to an armed clearly skilled man like this, but a man has an ego okay? He’s not going to let some _blonde_ just trample all over that. Speaking of said blonde he walks a little closer still a good ten feet away but the movement is still concerning, 

“You never answered the first question,” The masked man says leaning on his heels a bit,

“What is it to you? I shouldn't need to tell you if you're going to kill me where I stand,” the brunette makes what he assumes is eye contact, his hands shaking so violently the masked man could definitely hear the rattling of the basket. At his words, the masked man laughs taking another step forward causing the brunette to push himself somehow further into the wall, grabbing his knife from the basket flipping open the blade. The taller man saw this and seemed to step back a little bit and start to grab the handle of his sword 

“Why are you here?” the mashed man asks a newly found anger radiating from him, “do you have business here?” The brunette looks around confused thinking, _‘here? this is the middle of batshit nowhere why would I actually want to be here?’_

“No, I don't know where the literal hell we are I ran out of the bloody woods two minutes ago if you couldn't tell,” He mutters holding the handle of his pocket knife a little tighter. At that, the man looks slightly shocked and completely releases his sword it sliding back into the sheath,

“Oh, you seriously don't know? We’re out north and you happen to be standing right in the castle gardens,” George freezes,

“The what?” the masked man lets out what sounds more like a wheeze than a laugh,

“The castle gardens dumbass! You just scaled the west wall,” George is this point is violently shaking, _‘If I just snuck into the fucking hidden castle gardens on accident,_ _’_ He came to the only conclusion his panicked brain could blurting it out,

“You’re an assassin, you have to be.” The man cackles but it sounds like a whistle from a teapot,

“Aww, where did you get that from?” He says drawing his sword once more. George panickedly readjusted the knife in his hands with only one thought screaming through his head, _‘Oh god I’m so fucked.’_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw I don't really have an update schedule but I always post when I have the chapter after it finished so I already have chapter three ready to go so just wait on that :)

George, still shaking, starts to push himself off the cobble wall holding his basket in his left arm and his knife in the other. 

“If you’re not an assassin why would you be here? I stumbled in here on accident, this place looks secret and you’re armed. Even if you aren't an assassin you’re suspicious as all hell.” At this, the man starts laughing again saying,

“For the love of god, this is the most fun I’ve had in _ages._ Who the hell are you? You’re back talking a man with a longsword, all you have is a pocket knife,” 

“Jesus Christ I’m not telling you my name! If I do who knows what would happen, for all I know I could end up next on your hitlist!” The man’s shoulders are still shaking from laughter and George is so glad he can’t see his face, he doesn’t think his ego would be able to actually take _seeing_ the man laugh at him. The man just continues on anyways slightly out of breath for the lighter,

“How much do you think you’d be worth? I would have to know more about you to place an accurate bounty on your head,” George shoots back,

“This is the weirdest way anyone has ever tried to get to know me, you are seriously insane ya know. If you are really on an assassin mission there’s a bounty for one of the royals right?” The masked man replies his tone cool,

“Oh yes, it’s an _extremely_ hefty price too, maybe I’m scouting for my master plan to take the prince’s life right now,” George still not recovered because he thinks he’s about to die in a good five minutes at the hand of a stupid fucking blonde, he tries to say anything but nothing will come out of his godforsaken mouth. At this, the masked man tilts his head looking down at him, _‘fuck tall people’_ George curses. “Hey what’s in that basket?” The man asks stepping closer which was like seven feet away but still a way too close for the comfort of the brunette.

“Stop trying to get me to tell you shit I’m not going to! Just fuck off!” The masked man at this point cannot stop laughing,

“How massive is your ego?! I’m _this_ close to just straight up stealing your knife right now,” George scared out of his mind at this proposition shouts back,

“I’m not a bloody toddler! You can’t just take someone’s belongings like that, I know you are an assassin and such but you must have _some_ morals.” The masked man just stands there absently swinging his sword in his hand back and forth,

“So are you gonna tell me what’s in the basket or not because I’m getting really curious-” George interrupts him,

“If I do, will you let me live?” At this the man stills and he replies,

“What?” George answered,

“You heard me, if I tell you what’s in the basket will you spare my life?” Dream immediately starts cackling again dropping his sword,

“WHAT?! This is the worst deal I’ve ever fucking heard!” George stills _‘oh shit’_ the man keeps going, “Yet.. I’m kinda inclined to accept, you are truly a character, I want to see what other shit you can pull,” George, still high on adrenaline from this whole situation, practically yells back,

“Wait are you serious!? Holy shit, oh god please, I’ll even give you the stupid basket just let me get the hell out of here,” The masked man backs up allowing George to step forward a bit with his woven basket. George looks back up at the man once again asking,

“You’re not kidding, right? Like after this I can go home?” The man nods,

“Of course, I'm a man of my word, if I was not you would be dead.” George turns back thinking, _‘okay now you're just being annoying’_ and carefully starts to take off the piece of cloth covering the basket of goods. 

“Here it is, your holy basket,” George says while holding out the basket. The man carefully walked forward making sure to see if George was stepping back or not. But ever the man George stood still in his place, terrified, yet stood there. The man takes off the small blanket covering the goods tossing it carefully back to George who just let it fall to the grass. He’s scared to make one wrong move. Does this man really think his reflexes are going to be the best right now? But the man just looks into the basket with an unreadable expression, obviously, his only expression was two small dots and a smile. 

The man carefully grabs a small bag of cookies, special honey-flavored ones at that took ages for George to get right. And the man turns back to George who now has his eyebrows furrowed, “Are you satisfied? It's just a bunch of baked goods, I was traveling to deliver them today that's why I'm out here in the first place.” The masked man tilts his head a bit asking,

“To who? I don’t know anyone who lives in these woods,” George defensive as ever replies,

“It’s none of your business, I don’t want you hunting them down either, they happen to be lovely people.” George quietly thinks to himself, _‘Lovely might be a slight exaggeration,’_ The masked man questions,

“Ooh running into the woods to bring goodies to your long-lost lover? How romantic of you.. Hm, I forgot, I never caught your name,” George who is so close to boiling over _again_ shoots back,

“NO! I don’t have a random fucking lover in the woods! They are just good friends of mine, and I just happen to be a very kind soul! They also do pay quite well for my baking-”

“Wait _you_ baked these?” The masked man interrupts him,

“Well duh who else would-” The masked man turns around quick pulling up a bit of his mask taking a bite out of one of the cookies pulling his mask back down and twirling back to face George after swallowing,

“Holy shit what is in those things?! They are seriously great you’ve got to tell me,” George was still standing there stunned that this man is just quizzing him on his baking when just a few minutes ago he was in fact threatening George’s life. 

“Uh,” George pauses looking at the now silent man who was staring at him waiting for an answer. “They are cookies..? I can’t really give away my recipes for free. I have a business to run,” The masked man just continues to stare at him still holding the basket. Suddenly he starts rummaging through the basket again and pulls over some other deserts trying them each one at a time. In the most stupid way possible it made George proud to see this random ass man that was about to kill him seemingly so happy to eat the stuff _he_ made. The man who at this point has taken a sample of each thing from his basket turns to George seemly giddy,

“You’re an amazing baker, do you have more stuff? You said you have a business? What’s it called?” George overwhelmed at the sudden barrage of questions just stands there,

“Well I do have a storefront-” The masked man interrupted,

“Really!? Okay, this is awesome where is it?” George tries to finish,

“I’m not telling you the name of my storefront. You don’t even know my name and I don't know yours why in the world would I tell you where I _live_.” The man goes quiet for a bit be saying,

“Dream.” George confused asks,

“What?” The masked man replies,

“You can call me Dream,” George stares at the man, his face scrunched up and brows furrowed, _‘What the hell?’_ Ignoring all common sense and basic survival skills George says,

“That’s a dumb name, I don’t even believe it’s your name,” ‘Dream’ chuckles a bit at this,

“Well, mister I-will-not-tell-you-my-name I suppose you don't have room to speak,” At that George without thinking blurts out,

“My name is George you dimwit!” After realizing what he just said he quickly covers his mouth with his hands his eyes widening, “Oh fuck, forget I said that,” Dream just casually says back,

“That’s such a common name I won’t be able to get anything out of that _George_ ,” George shoots back,

“Shut the fuck up I’m going into a panic over here, I might have just given my stupid fucking name to some dumb assassin and everyone I love is going to die, holy shit-” Dream interrupts a seemingly panicked,

“Wait- hold up I’m not about to kill all your loved ones because you gave me your painfully average first name, please calm down,” George looks back at him,

“Really?” Dream has come a bit closer which is very concerning but at this point, George has too many problems going on right now to care,

“Yes really, I swear you’re loved ones are safe no harm will come to them, now please get up,” George just now realized he was sitting on the grass he must have fallen in a panic. He sees that Dream is offering out a hand but George just glares at it standing up himself,

“So all my friends are okay? I don’t have to worry about you stalking me on my way back home right?” Dream taps his mask quietly,

“Well those cookies were pretty damn good and I kinda wanna get more-” George interrupts,

“I’ll bring you some! Next time I’m passing through this godforsaken woods I'll bring you some of the damned cookies. Just don't come following me home that's low even for someone like you,” Dream laughs at this handing the basket back to George picking up the cloth that was covering it too,

“Please do, seriously they are awesome cookies I haven't had freshly baked stuff like that for a while,” George huffs back,

“You can’t flatter me, you are a man that kills for money.” Dream chuckles,

“I suppose that is true, but don’t worry I’m usually in this garden and I’ll stick around a little longer than usual knowing that you will come back,” George raises an eyebrow at this,

“You just sit here all day? Like planning? That’s sort of lame if you think about it, aren’t there more bounties out there?” Dream just twirls his sword a little in his hand,

“Yeah of course but this bounty, oh boy, I can retire forever after this one,” George’s eyes widen _‘I know he’s after the prince but for real?’_ George carefully started to make sure everything untouched in the basket was okay, but still held on to his pocket knife. After all if before this encounter he wasn’t paranoid he sure as hell was now. He looks and sees his little bag of about five or so honey cookies and looks back at Dream. The man is just standing at a further distance than before seeming to have backed up for his comfort, just kinda watching George pack up. George looks back to the bag remembering what the man said about the cookies and thinks to himself, _‘I can just go to their house tomorrow it’s going to get dark soon anyways,’_ He walks over to Dream and grunts out,

“Here,” And carefully holds out the small bag of honey cookies trying not to look at the man. The cookies were swiped out of his hand a little happy noise coming from Dream and an excited response,

“Holy shit thanks! I’ll repay you next time you come back here don’t worry!” At this George’s eyes widened a bit, _‘oh.’_ At that George backs up grabbing his basket again stuffing his pocket knife into his coat pocket for easier access. He quickly turns back to Dream,

“So if I just bring you more of those,” he gestures at the cookies held carefully in Dream’s hands, “you won’t try to find where I live?” Dream lets out a wheeze,

“Yep! Right on the mark George!” George stiffens at the use of his name by this stranger but listens as he carries on albeit softer this time, “If you don’t want to come back I won't actually hunt you down, I’m pretty distracted here so if you don’t want to you don't have to,” George just looks at him confused,

“This is totally counteracting your threat you made like three seconds ago,” Dream stumbles,

“Well, like, I don’t want you to be forced here I just, uh, just come if you want that’s it,” George replies,

“What in the world, you are so confusing you know? Why would I come back to just meet a man with a sword to give him _cookies_?” Dream in return asks,

“What if I didn't have my sword? Or like any weapon at all? Would you come back to see me then?” George just says,

“Maybe?? I how absolutely no reason to trust you at _all_ , I actually have more reasons not to than actually trust you,” Dream is just moving around his hands trying to talk with them,

“Well you don't have to come it's okay, seriously, just if you feel like it and want to bring stuff,” George just glares at him,

“Dream tell me how to scale back over the wall,” Dream looked at him his hands falling dejectedly,

“Over by the corner you were in earlier, some jagged stones. I just climb them,” George starts walking and throws a ‘thank you’ over his shoulder. He climbs over the wall with more effort than he would like to admit and when he was over and standing on the stones at the top on the other side he looks down. He sees Dream laying back down on the grass back to him facing the red flowers in the garden. He just seemed to be looking at them, but with that mask, you couldn’t be sure. 

George was off the wall and looking at the sun trying to gouge how long it was till sunset and seeing it wasn't that far off he started running. He was still exhausted after all that with whatever the hell just happened in that garden but he had to get out of these damn woods before it got dark. He suddenly remembers that fact he was supposed to deliver these and lets out a groan thinking, _‘Sapnap is going to kill me,’_ running as far as he could from the woods and, more importantly, that garden.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> filler chapter with sapnap and co.? more likely than you'd think

George wakes up the sunlight pouring through his window directly in his eyes. 

“-Ow,” He sputters, getting out of bed, throwing his covers to the side. He examines his room, his eyes settling on the jacket and basket laying right by the door to his room. All his memories of what happened yesterday in the woods came running back to him. The garden, the cookies,  _ Dream _ . He rushes over to the basket looking inside, the missing bag of honey cookies a firm reminder that it had all actually happened.  _ ‘Holy shit’  _ He thinks, covering the basket back up. 

He throws on some new clothes because after rushing back home, running past Sapnap straight to his room and immediately passing out. Changing his dirty shirt wasn't really on the forefront of his mind after whatever the hell happened that yesterday. He starts walking down the stairs of his room above his bakery to see Sapnap standing in the doorway his arms crossed,

“Hey George,” George stares at him and asks awkwardly,

“Hello Sapnap, how are you?” Sapnap huffs and replies,

“I don’t know George, how are  _ you  _ doing? You just randomly ran back in here last night covered in dirt, and sprinted upstairs without telling me shit,” George rubs the back of his neck trying to avoid eye contact,

“Uh, well you see,” Sapnap continues to tap his arm as George struggles to explain what the hell happened. “This is going to sound like such a lame excuse and you are not going to believe me at all,” George manages to get out. Sapnap just looks at him not saying a word so George begrudgingly continues, “You know how you went out and stole my horse to go see your loser friends?” At this Sapnap shoots back,

“Hey! Karl and Quackity are your friends too don't call them losers, and I didn't steal  _ your  _ horse we share Sugar. Because you couldn’t pay off your debt to me for buying you sugar bags,” George glares at him,

“I thought after I let you name  _ my  _ horse after that whole thing we wouldn't talk about it,” Sapnap just rolls his eyes, 

“Whatever George just continue with whatever the hell happened, Karl needs me to go get him some stuff from around town anyways,” George sighs and carries on,

“Well, I had to  _ walk- _ ” he glares at Sapnap, “-all the way to Philza’s place but I went a little off the trail on accident,” Sapnap’s gaze is steady urging him to continue, “Basically I was sort of a moron and fell into a garden, almost got killed by this scary masked guy and then got out because he likes my honey cookies,” Sapnap’s eyebrows shoot up,

“What do you mean you almost got killed?! What the hell George you idiot!” George just fiddles with his hands,

“I got out fine! And the guy won't bother us I made a deal with him and ya know..” George is staring at the wall thinking,  _ ‘I can’t tell Sapnap everything he would probably never let me live this down.’  _ Sapnap has moved to just pacing in the actual bakery,

“You almost  _ died, _ you idiot! You should have just run goddamn, and you didn’t get the shit to Philza, god,” George retorts,

“Neither of those things were directly my fault! I’ll bring Philza some freshly baked stuff later alright?! Just go get Karl his shit,” Sapnap glances back at George and say,

“George, I'm not mad at you for any of that. I swear dude, I’m just processing it,” George nods, it's understandable that he wouldn't take hearing about his best friend almost dying, with little to no information about it, well. George just sighs,

“It’s okay Sapnap I’ll tell you all about it later, right now I need to make new shit for Philza, is Sugar in his stable at your place?” Sapnap replies,

“Yeah of course he is, also don’t worry about it you can tell me at the dinner I’ve planned for you, Karl, Quackity, and I,” George groans,

“Dear lord Sapnap I cannot deal with you  _ and _ Quackity in the same room today, maybe I’ll sneak out to Bad and Skeppy’s place-” Sapnap interrupts glaring teasingly at him,

“You are  _ not  _ getting out of another goddamn dinner, you are not five years old you can handle Quackity for like an hour,” At this point, George is too tired to fight with Sapnap giving in,

“Fine but only for an hour, but get the hell out of my shop I have shit to do,” Sapnap gives him a small salute already halfway out the door,

“Awesome! Just head on over at like five or something, I gotta head over to Puffy and Niki’s place for flowers but just come get me if you need anything,” George rolls his eyes waving him out,

“Get out loser I can do this on my own, but I'll be there,” Sapnap closes the door and George heads to the back grabbing his apron tying it on. He looks at his list of things that Philza usually orders, George muttering random ingredients and instructions to himself as he bakes. All George can think about while baking is how much he's dreading this godforsaken dinner and poking at him from the very depths of his mind is the very vivid image of a masked man munching on some cookies. George pauses. Against everything he should do, he quietly doubles all ingredients for the batch of honey cookies. 

  
  


George was absolutely right when he said the dinner was going to be a shit show. Right now the man is walking back to his house emotionally  _ exhausted  _ from Quackity’s many, many antics, that no one stopped him in because Sapnap and Karl have the audacity to find that shit endearing. George on the other hand could not take any more bad singing and awful jokes, sprinting out of that house as soon as he fucking could. All he has to show for his labor that was basically babysitting three adult men for an hour was some carrots he stole from Sapnap’s kitchen. He needs the damn things for carrot cake which he forgot Philza was a regular for ordering. 

George walks back into his bakery and the sun has been set for quite a while at this point, so he just dumps the carrots in the back and heads upstairs to his bedroom. He lays face down on his bed limbs spread out in a starfish position, just thinking about anything. His mind rushes past the horrific dinner, which he will berate Sapnap for ever inviting him to tomorrow. But his mind lands softly on the extra bag of neatly wrapped cookies put off to the side of the carefully woven basket of new baked goods. George knows exactly what brought it on but would never admit it, not to anyone, not even to himself. 

He groans at the thought and buries his face deeper into the pillow. He got up off his bed, changed into some pajamas, and went back to his bed laying on his back staring at the ceiling thinking,  _ ‘Am I seriously going to see him again?’  _ He honestly doesn’t even have an answer for himself so he just turns laying on his side closing his eyes. His last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were about a familiar plastic smile and a bag of honey cookies.

It's the next day and George had just finished gathering all the goods he baked for Philza in his arms. He walks over and carefully arranges them in the basket making sure everything fits in there without anything getting damaged. After everything has been fit in, he covers it with a small blue blanket. He glances to his left and sees the bag with honey cookies. Not knowing what to do he just stares and thinking to himself thoughts about nothing, in particular, rushing around in his brain until something decides for him to reach out and grab them. Now he just holds them in his hands gazing at them, all thoughts halting. Without thinking he lifts up the blue cloth placing the cookies on top quickly recovering the bag and looking away. 

George is walking through the village walking past all the small thatched houses and small trading posts and shops. He walks past Puffy and Niki’s store giving Niki a small wave who was adjusting some flowers in a small planter out front. He finally walks down to Sapnap’s house which is just a small bit off the path of the village walking out back to see Sugar in his stall munching on some hay. George smiles walking up seeing that Sugar already has his saddle and reins on noting he’ll have to thank Sapnap for that later. 

He hops on holding tightly onto the basket. He takes Sugar down the path out of the village into the woods northeast the way to Philza’s house. He spends quite a while just enjoying the peaceful surroundings taking in the sun and birds chirping. Looking up he can see clouds in the distance, they looked slightly darker and there seemed to be a lot but they were a problem for future George to deal with. Eventually, he passes by the place where he went off the path last time slowing Sugar a little. He gazes down the path for a while an unknown feeling building up in his stomach. But he thankful gathers himself shaking it off muttering,

“Goddamn George not today,” but he suddenly remembers the honey cookies in his basket and with that the sweet smell of thousands of flowers. He blinks quickly snapping out of the mini trance quickly shooing his horse down the path.  _ ‘I can’t’  _ he thinks running a hand through his hair. 

He makes it very deep into the woods where even though the trees were beginning to go barren due to the vast winter approaching, the thick branches were starting to block out the sun. He finds his way to a cabin lit by only a few lanterns placed around in random places and hops off Sugar patting his side, “come on boy, come with me,” George tells his horse leading him by the reins to a post next to the house tying him to it. George looks back to the horse gently petting his mane, “It’s okay boy, I won’t be long just stay here,” George grabs the basket and walks over to the wooden door of the cabin. Before he knocks he recognizes the familiar yelling and laughter of a certain child and he rolls his eyes knocking as loudly as he could. The voices stop immediately and the door is thrown open by a certain blonde boy he could never forget who looks at him smiling,

“George! Buddy old pal how are you doing?!” George just sighs,

“Hello, Tommy.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like sbi ! but dw this has plot lol

“Will you let me in?” George asks the taller boy exasperated already,

“Oh well of course I will my old friend!” Tommy replies, letting him in with a shit-eating grin on his face. George just decides to ignore it as always, taking in the beauty of their cabin once more. It was mostly just woods of all different types but it was carved beautifully. There was a staircase leading upstairs to his right with a stunning wooden railing, animals carefully carved into the wood. Even though George has been here countless times the sight of the extraordinary cabin never failed to take his breath away. 

George walks into the living area to see Philza and Wilbur talking on the couches by the fire and Tubbo mindlessly scribbling in the corner. Tubbo looks up when he hears them enter a smile suddenly gracing his face as he calls out, 

“Hello, George! How are you?” George smiles back at the boy,

“I’m doing pretty well Tubbo, what about you?” Tubbo basically lights up at the question,

“Well! I’m actually drawing this new-” Tommy cuts him off running over to Tubbo,

“TUBBO! You’re drawing again?! You’ve got to show me!” Tubbo just laughs a little handing him the paper he was doodling on,

“Here, Tommy just don’t mess it up please,” Tommy nods excitement clear on his face immediately running back over to George showing him the honestly pretty good doodles,

“Look at this shit George isn’t it great! This is the peak of art! Tubbo has fucking raised the bar beyond everyone else,” George just smiles at the boy’s enthusiasm nodding,

“I really like them, Tubbo I can see how much better you’ve gotten, it looks great,” Tubbo is positively glowing at all the praise going around as Tommy runs around showing everyone the art pointing out all the things he likes. George just huffs with a small smile looking at all of them enjoying themselves,  _ ‘classic them,’  _ he thinks. 

George look across the room out that the open living room and asks Wilbur,

“Is Technoblade out?” Wilbur pipes up at this,

“Oh yes! He went out to get some potatoes out in his small farm out west, you know how he is,” George only knows a little bit about how Technoblade is, and that was one thing never mentioned. But ever the people pleaser Goerge just replies,

“Of course! Will he be back soon? I brought your usual,” At that Philza gets off the couch and walks over offering to carry the basket to the kitchen. George graciously hands it over following him to their lovely wooden kitchen, it's just so damn hard not to find every part of their house stunning. He helps Philza carefully unpack all the things in the basket such as the carrot cake, the chocolate macaroons, and the- _ ‘oh’  _ George looks at the two bags of honey cookies. Philza raises an eyebrow at George’s pause and looks down,

“Oh, you packed two? That’s very kind of you George thank you, Tubbo will love them,” George flushes red,

“Uh, erm, well they aren’t for Tubbo, I’m sorry, I just brought them along, I must have, uh, forgotten I packed them,” Philza looks at George’s face and sees him rubbing his neck awkwardly and gives a small knowing smile,

“It’s fine George it was an honest mistake, here,” He carefully places the second bag back in the basket covering it back up with the cloth, putting the basket back off to the side again. George looks up at Philza whose smile crinkles the edges of his eyes,

“What Tubbo doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” George smiles back at him,

“Thank you Philza,” They pack their things in a comfortable silence for a while until they hear the door from the back porch be slammed open with an accompanying monotone yell of,

“I’m baccckkkk,” George watches Philza smile a little more at the voices of everyone greeting Technoblade,

“TECHNO! You’ve basically got us dinner for the next four bloody years! What the hell do you fucking do to those goddamn potatoes?!” Wilbur laughs at Tommy’s declaration helping Techno carry a sack,

“Come on Techno let me help you put some of those out back to compost,” That earns a small grunt from Technoblade being shoved back out of the door. George looks back over to Philza whos just smiling, and the man lets out a little huff that sounded more like a laugh,

“Those boys..” George looked back down to his hands. He knew something was being admitted from every corner of the house it was a feeling, and at that, it was so painfully domestic. And even though he would never admit it, he yearned for it deep down. Of course, he had his village and bakery back home, but something about this was different.

He looks back up at Tommy looking over Tubbo’s shoulder as Tubbo sketches something out, Wilbur reading a book sipping from a small mug, and Technoblade just sat examining what looked like a dagger at worst and a potato peeler at best. Which if it is a dagger that is mildly terrifying considering the man is an ex-bounty hunter, but he looked peaceful enough with the others for George to relax even if it’s just the  _ slightest  _ bit.

George carefully grabs the basket from the counter tucking it back under his arm. He looks to Philza who is just arranging the sweets onto plates as he asks,

“Are you going to stay for dinner? Of course you’re welcome to if you would like,” George replies a bit of shame in his voice,

“Thank you for the offer, Philza, but I must head back before it gets too dark. You should know best how these woods get at night,” Philza turns to him nodding,

“Of course! Thank you so much for bringing these, you always make the best sweets George!” Philza leans a little closer lowering his volume so the others cannot hear, “Just between you and me but you make some of the only sweets Techno is willing to eat, he’s like a kid again with that carrot cake, I can’t thank you enough for that,” George absolutely lights up at that a grin spreading across his face,

“You’re welcome Philza I’ll be happy to bring you anything at any time you know where to find me,” Philza just gives him a kind grin raising his voice back to a normal volume,

“I hope you come back soon everyone, even Tommy, misses your face sometimes-” The blonde interjects,

“I never have and never will miss that prick! All he does is harass me and roll his eyes! Look he’s doing it again!-” Tubbo interrupts not looking up from the paper,

“Weren’t you just saying yesterday how much you missed his chocolate cake? I could be wrong but ya know,” Tommy just pauses in dramatic silence before he drapes himself on the floor whining,

“TUBBO! That was between us and God! I swear I’m never telling you anything after this utter betrayal of trust-” Tubbo just giggles a little kicking Tommy’s side with his foot causing the blonde to shriek. George just starts to walk to the exit with a small wave to everyone and he hears Wilbur call out,

“Thank you, George! I will make sure we all try to savor-” He shoots a small glare at Tommy, “-All your treats, again thank you!” George just gives a small laugh,

“No problem Wilbur I’m very glad you enjoy them, farewell,” He’s met with a chorus of ‘goodbyes’ and a ‘fuck off you prick’ in return. Just as he’s about out the door Technoblade quickly offers up,

“I could walk you off the premises if you want. It’s sorta dark out,” George took one glance at the shining knife in the man’s off hand and with a tight smile shot back,

“Oh no thank you! I’ll be fine!” And quickly closes the door. Technoblade was right though it was getting quite dark. But he’s had his fill of scary men with knives for the week. 

He quickly hops back on Sugar apologizing to the horse for the wait they hurry off the premises. He hears a distant rumbling immediately groaning when he feels drips on his shoulders. He mumbles out, “Oh fuck me,” as the down poor starts to only get heavier.  _ ‘In winter as well? My jacket isn’t that thick fuck,’  _ He realizes the path is getting way to muddy for his liking veering Sugar off the path a bit. 

Before he knew it George was standing right in front of an all too familiar wall. The man flops onto his horse with a loud groan, “God just kill me at this point.” He just stares at the cobblestone wall his entire body drenched in freezing cold rain. He has the off thought,  _ ‘Do you think he could be over there..?’  _ He shakes his hair water flying off the strands. He against  _ all  _ better judgment he hops off the horse, because has he ever been known for his better judgment? He remembers that he tucked the cookies into a pocket in his jacket so they wouldn’t get soggy from the rain, and prayed that they were still fine. Sneezing not once but three times he walks over to hike himself over the wall shaking from the cold already. He hikes himself up to the top step looking down expecting nothing. 

But oh god there he is. Completely and utterly soaked he's still there leaned up against a tree fidgeting with his fingers doing nothing in particular. After taking in the fact that Dream was  _ actually  _ there he realizes that Dream’s sword isn’t in its sheath. After a quick sweep It didn't seem to be anywhere.  _ ‘Oh, he kept his promise.’  _ After this realization, he remembers that he is in fact fucking soaked in cold ass rainwater sneezing again. And in a moment of complete and utter idiocy George is sent falling into the garden again. 

He hits the ground with a miraculous ‘twunk’ groaning as he tries to open his eyes. He peaks one of them open and really wished he didn’t because standing over him was a slightly panicked Dream. It sounded like he was trying to say something but it just sounded fuzzy and George, as the feeble man he is, just closes his eyes again. 

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is an apology for filler last time now time for plot lmao,, and one of my favorite tropes

George wakes up propped up against a tree, it doesn’t seem to be much later than it was when he closed his eyes. He looks up a little his head throbbing to see Dream pacing back and forth muttering something to himself. George accidentally calls attention back to himself with a couple of small sneezes. Dream’s mask shoots over to look at the slowly waking George and the man walks closer, but seemingly not too close. George gathered to bearings enough to hear the man blabbering,

“I hope you don’t have like brain damage holy shit- and I didn’t want to touch you that much but I hope up don’t mind I just quickly propped you up against the tree, I didn’t mean to invade your personal space- but that was not the best position for someone that is seemly sick,” George is still in a haze just looking around mumbling,

“It’s fine, just stay over there,” Dream nods immediately and starts to just sit in the wet grass across from the tree rain still pouring. Dream’s mask just stares at him as he jokes lightly,

“We really need to get you a better way down in here,” George just shoots back,

“I don’t need a way down in here you numbskull, this stupid rain is out to get me that’s all,” The pain in George’s head isn’t truly that bad just a dull throb at this point. He still holds his head for no reason other than maybe just making the masked man feel a little bad for him. George at this point feels well enough to stand back up, all the fall really did was make him blackout for a second and take the wind out of him. But despite that, he’s back on his albeit shaky feet trying to dust off his soaked clothes. He looks to Dream and asks, “Where is your sword?” Dream looks back,

“I thought you would feel better if I didn’t have it if you came to see me,” George stares at him, his face screwing up,

“So you were prepared to sit out here unarmed for multiple days, just in case I came back?” He pauses thinking a little, even if it proves hard due to the throbbing pain in his head, “I don’t believe you, I seriously think you have a knife or something,” Dream just lets out one of his dumb wheeze laughs standing back up,

“I don’t I’m really just dumb, but to be fair I think we both are,” George glares at him,

“Shut up prick I’m not a moron like you,” dream just smugly replies,

“You fell in here and then blacked out for around ten minutes just a second ago,” George just rolls his eyes,

“Be quiet, I cannot stand you.” That only fuels Dream’s laughter even more, only for it to be muffled by the pouring rain. After Dream calms down as George just stands there giving him a dirty look he speaks up again,

“Hey if you wanna get inside we can,” George’s eyebrows shoot up,

“Wait do you mean in the bloody castle?! What the hell, you’re out to kill them, no!” Dream just starts to ring out the edge of his shirt even though it will do nothing. 

“Well, I kind of lied about the whole assassin thing,” Just stands there jaw hanging open,

“WHAT THE HELL?! WHY?! Who the hell are you then?!” Dream just starts walking towards the exit other of the garden, the small stone arch,

“Just follow me I can see you shivering, you’re going to be sick in the morning if you don’t get inside,” George glares at him then down at his shivering hands and back up,

“Why the hell would I?! You lied about being an  _ assassin  _ who the hell could you be?!” Dream just stands by the arch waving his hand in a ‘come with me’ gesture,

_ “ _ If you don’t want to be soaking wet in the middle of the woods sick at night, I would suggest you come with me. I’ll explain on the way,” George glares at him,

“Is my horse going to be alright?” Dream faces him,

“Oh probably, horses are insanely durable. I think you should know that as a horse owner yourself,” George just yells,

“Well I still don’t-” He cuts himself off with a sneezing fit, “-fuck,” Dream just moves a little closer, not by much at all but the movement is still there,

“Please? I won’t hurt you, I’ll just bring you some things to feel better, I swear.” George looks at him, the smiley mask still throwing him off but his body language seems to be a bit more desperate if anything. George thinks back to how the man did keep his promise of not bringing his sword, and at this point, the pain behind his eyes was just getting to a breaking point,

“Fine, but stay a good five feet ahead of me at all times,” Dream brightens back up,

“Awesome! Of course! Come this way, I’ll explain the assassin thing,” Now the idea of the whole assassin mess being explained makes his offer slightly more appealing. With that George follows, watching Dream desperately try to keep his distance, it was nice that he was trying so hard. 

They walk for quite a while just passing through gardens upon gardens looking neater the further they move along. But George will admit none were as beautiful as the red flowers, the messy overgrown feeling of the place just made it truly stunning. These gardens they were passing were nice in their own right, but they just seemed too clean and neat for how plants should be, it just felt less natural. But what does George know, he is just a simple baker from a small village out west. 

Dream clears his throat snapping George out of his flower induced haze, “I, uh, work in the castle, that’s why I’m out here in the first place,” George just stares at the back of the man’s head as he continues to talk, “And the assassin thing was just kind of a joke, I get bored out here it’s very lonely, and I just thought messing with you would be fun because I thought I would never see you again,” George just huffs,

“Well, moron look where you are now,” Dream gives a sad laugh,

“I know, I know, but that’s it, nothing much more, but I do know how to fight that wasn’t a bluff,” George just asks,

“Your clothes are quite nice, so you aren’t some servant, what do you do?” Dream turns to look at him and says,

“That’s none of your business right now.” George just watches the man turn his head back around as they reach a wooden door. As George looks up his head only throbs more, they were actually at the castle, the fucking huge castle. George doesn’t have the energy to try to deal with his emotions about being at the actual castle right now and just continues to follow Dream. 

Dream pushes the door open as softly as he can looking back at George who is still standing in the pouring rain,

“Hurry up dumbass I don’t have all day,” Dream just laughs,

“I just have to make sure nobody is out here, I’m not exactly supposed to be out right now,” George just raises an eyebrow  _ ‘huh.’  _ But Dream eventually gives him a small thumbs up entering the door leaving George to follow him inside. George runs to the door at the promise of getting out of this fucking rain and quickly peaks inside to see a corridor with statues of knights lining the walls, it was lit with torches stretching down the entire expanse of the hall. If George wasn’t sniffling and didn’t have a migraine he would probably take more time to appreciate the beauty of the corridor, but the man had just been standing in the rain with nothing but a thin jacket. Dream calls out,

“Come with me! I know where the spare rooms are!” George carefully walks in realizing how hard it was to actually try to stay balanced at this point, but he just wobbly follows dream down the empty hall.  _ ‘He’s totally about to kill me isn’t he?’  _ George just pushes the thought from his head as he struggles to walk up a flight of stairs into another corridor. 

They finally reach a pretty average wooden door and Dream asks, “Is it okay if I go in there with you? I know you feel shitty and I just want to make sure you get settled,” George looks at him,

“Fine, just stand far away,” Dream nods, slipping into the room,  _ ‘Yeah he’s totally about to kill me, I’ll miss you Sapnap, kind of.’  _ He walks into the room to see it’s just a pretty nice bedroom, blue bedding and curtains, really just blue everything,

“Did you do that on purpose?” George asks pointing to the blue. Dream is standing awkwardly off to the side near what seemed to be a dresser,

“Do what?” George walks over to the bed pointing down at the blue,

“This? You know the blue,” Dream just seems confused,

“What do you mean? I just choose the closest nice room,” George just stares,

“Oh,” He pauses to see Dream fidget with his hands, “I’m colorblind, I see blue the best,” Dream immediately stops,

“Wait seriously?” George nods,

“Yeah, It’s the most vibrant to me, I can’t really discern red or green,” Dream just nods laughing a little bit,

“In that case, I picked it out just for you! This is George’s room now,” George against all better judgment lets out a little laugh, that he will later blame on delirium. George just sits on the bed not really knowing what to do he just stares out the window into the dark. After a few minutes of awkward silence Dream asks,

“Do you need anything? I can get you something if you want it,” George still staring out the window replies,

“My head, but it’s just a headache, oh and my nose is all congested,” Dream nods,

“Well if you want to change out of your wet clothes there should be a guest set in here,” He pats the dresser he’s standing next to, “You can just change when I leave, I’ll be back with stuff that might help,” George just stands as Dream walks out of the room closing the door quietly behind him. George just wanders around the room taking in all the nice things.  _ ‘I’m really in the castle’  _ he thinks as he looks at the gold trim on the bed frame and the blue silk curtains. He walks to the dresser Dream had pointed out opening it to see a pair of cream colored pajamas they were average size so seemed like they would fit just fine. He quickly changes, noticing the pajamas were made of silk. They felt so soft as he ran his hand over the sleeves once more. He really did envy the people who get to live like this. 

By the time Dream got back George was in the bed sitting against the headboard staring at the cover of a book he couldn’t muster opening with his headache. Dream opens the door seemly changed out of his wet clothes as well into just a grey shirt and black pants,

“I have some things that might help,” George sees the cup and bowl in his hands and glances back up at him. They just sit in silence for a bit before Dream asks, “Uh, can I go over there to put them on the nightstand?” George nods a little,

“Yeah.” and Dream quickly places them on the table beside the bed walking away,

“The cup has ginger tea for your headache and some simple chicken broth for your cold,” George looks at the things beside him suspiciously,  _ ‘He could poison these’  _ but then the throbbing in his head comes back and he immediately grabs the ginger tea. He sips on it and to his surprise, it actually tastes quite good and he continues to sip on it happily. Dream asks,

“Is it okay? I had to run to the nearest kitchen it might be a little cold,” George just shakes his head still sipping from the teacup,

“No it’s actually pretty great,” Dream seems to light up at this nodding,

“No problem, just hope you feel better by morning. Do you want me to wake you up in the morning? I can let you sleep in it would be better for you but it is your choice,” George takes a moment then replies,

“My friend is working his shift tomorrow, so just let me sleep in thank you,” Dream nods pulling out a piece of paper,

“I drew out a map of this place to the exit you came from in the garden for when you wake up, just make sure you don’t get caught by anyone,” George carefully takes the paper that was thrown at the foot of his bed,

“Okay, I’ll be sure to use this, thanks Dream,” Dream nods and starts to open the door to leave seemingly done with what he had to do,

“Goodnight, I hope you feel better in the morning,” George replies,

“Me too,” At that Dream quietly shuts the door. George just sits back now trying the broth to be sure it wasn’t getting cold. As he sips from it he can’t help but think about what the hell just happened. One moment he was cold and soaking wet in a garden and now he was in a warm bed with some freshly cooked meals. George just mummers to himself,

“This has been the weirdest fucking week, how am I still alive,” He puts the bowl back beside the cup not wanting to finish, his stomach was almost achingly full, another curse of this damned cold. All he can do is curl up in bed and pray he feels good enough to run out of this place by morning. And maybe think a  _ little  _ about the kind actions of one masked man.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need to name my google docs better

George opens his eyes to sunlight and a very dull headache. His eyes lazily flit around the room and suddenly see so much blue. Remembering where he is, he imminently sits up. Checking to see if everything was okay, he looks to see the dirty dishes and map still placed next to the bed. He grabs the map and jumps out of bed. He’s feeling much better, still kind of shitty, but good enough to get out of here. He walks over to his clothes and sees they are dry enough to wear back home. He quickly changes into them being left with silk pajamas he can only stare at. He hums to himself thinking _‘what if I take these.’_ And it seems so simple in the moment, so he does. He tucks the pajamas into his jacket and walks over to the door cracking it open a bit. He looks up and down the halls and once he finds that there is no one out there he glances at the map and sprints. 

Panting George gathers his wits hiding behind a neatly trimmed bush in the gardens, the throbbing in his head dull but still there. He walks over to the hidden part of the garden looking around for Dream to see if he was just lying around as he always does. To George’s surprise, the masked man was nowhere to be found and George’s heart dropped just the _tiniest_ bit though he’d never say why. He hykes himself over the wall looking only for a bit for Sugar who had walked only a bit away. George grabs the basket he’d left out in the rain quickly throwing the pajamas in and throwing the wet honey cookies out. George gets on his horse as best as he can so relieved to be off his feet and takes off for home. 

George bursts into his own home running past the bakery upstairs without even acknowledging Sapnap’s presence in the kitchen. He tosses some new clothes on, stuffing the pajamas into the back of the top drawer of his dresser, and runs back out. He sprints down the stairs sliding a little on the wood,

“SAPNAP!” Sapnap looks up at him with a tired look in his eyes,

“Hello George,” George raises an eyebrow at his calm reaction,

“Sorry for staying out so late-” Sapnap cuts him off just working on some dough,

“Don’t worry I know how persuasive Philza can be with the promise of dinner, and it was pouring out there last night anyways. Just glad you stayed over there,” George stares at Sapnap working. _‘He thinks I stayed over there? Oh shit, this is actually great.’_ George smiles up at him grabbing his apron,

“Yeah yeah, Philza and his Honey Garlic Chicken, seriously irresistible,” Sapnap laughs a little looking up,

“Next time you go over there you should ask him for the recipe, maybe steal it if the traffic is low here,” George shoves Sapnap’s shoulder with a dramatic gasp,

“I would never do that to the old man! what the hell is wrong with you prick,” Sapnap just chuckles grabbing a pan for the dough,

“Karl and Quackity are leaving tomorrow, I don’t just see why they can’t move here.” George grins,

“Aww is sappy nappy jealous that his only friends live far away and can hang out without him? That’s so sad maybe they should just move in with you,” Sapnap turns around but he can still hear the grumble of,

“Shut up.” George walks over to get some material out of the cupboard looking for some flour,

“Oh by the way Sapnap you can just go home and see them, I understand that you are actually going to miss them,” Sapnap looks away from whatever he was doing hope glimmering in his eyes,

“Really?” George gives him a quiet laugh and a nod and Sapnap immediately throws off his apron running out, “Thank you, George! I’ll stay extra long for my next shift! Thank you!” George just huffs and waves as Sapnap runs to the door grabbing his bag throwing the door open, “Bye George!!” George rolls his eyes and shoos him off,

“Goodbye Sapnap! Remember to stay safe, don’t want to have Karl run over here and tell me you jumped over a fucking fence again,” Sapnap just cackles and slams the doors. George can see the man just keeps running through the windows of the bakery. George chuckles a bit and walks over to the bread Sapnap was baking to check on it. 

After a while of just doing his daily tasks, George wanders back upstairs looking at the basket on the floor remembering all that happened yesterday. He just sighs and walks over to his bed flopping down his head still kind of hurting. He decides to just try to sleep it off and maybe think of a way to repay Dream for his actions yesterday. 

That is how George ends up in the back of the bakery whipping up the fourth batch of honey cookies this week, which is far too many for his dwindling honey supply. Mentioning that honey supply he should really go to puffy and buy some more honey from her ever expanding bee farm. He decides the fact that Dream had to deal with him being sick _and_ cranky makes him deserving of just a few extra brownies he’d made for the bakery earlier. Just as he finished putting the basket away and turns back to the cookie dough he hears the door open,

“Hello? George are you here?” George rushes out of the back dusting off his hands,

“No, no I'm right here hello!” He looks up and sees a familiar man with his hood up, “Oh Bad! How are you doing?” Bad smiles and adjusts his glasses,

“Nothing much! I was just wondering if I could pick up Skeppy’s regular? He’s being a muffinhead and won’t pick it up himself,” George nods laughing,

“I seriously don’t know how you can deal with his mood swings goddamn but yeah I’ll get to it! When do you want it? I can just drop it off later,” Bad replies,

“Oh, just whenever is good for you! I know you just had to go out to Philza’s earlier so rest up a bit! And don’t take this the wrong way but you do look a little sick,” George laughs a bit at this,

“Yeah just got a bit of a cold from last night's rain nothing too bad though, and don’t worry I don’t want you to deal with Skeppy’s whining so I’ll try to get it to you soon,” Bad just sighs with a little laugh,

“Thank you I’ll be sure to tell him that, and if you ever need some ginger or mint for that cold Skeppy and I’s garden is always open to you!” George gets a quick flashback to the ginger tea he had only hours ago but snaps out of it to look back at Bad,

“Of course Bad! Now get out of here so I can make that brat his shit,” Bad yells,

“Hey, Language! But thank you, he’s probably destroying our house right now I gotta head back,” Bad takes out a pouch and tosses it to George, “For your services thank you! I’ll just head out,” George waves him off with a ‘farewell’ and opens the pouch to see the stack of gold coins. George truly will never know how those two are so bloody rich, it’s a mystery no one in the village knows the answer to. 

George takes the honey cookies out of the oven putting in the blueberry scones. He places them over on the counter having already packaged the chocolate chip cookies that he had very conveniently made earlier with Sapnap. He brings the bag of chocolate chip cookies over to a cloth where he’s going to tie Skeppy’s order together when the scones finish. But till then he works on the honey cookies making sure the honey drizzle looks just as nice as all the other times he’s made them.

George often catches himself daydreaming. This never used to happen but now his mind just travels to other dimensions when he bakes. Traveling through his own head when just staring at his flour covered hands. All the daydream consists of one sole factor, Dream. He’s just there and he has no idea why. Maybe this is karma for everything he’s ever done and his brain has decided to hate him. But the masked man stays just wandering around, he never does much in these daydreams, just wanders around. Though George supposes he's never seen him do much more than that. But it really wasn't time to unpack all of that right now was it? He had some unintentionally overpriced sweets to deliver.

George loves just walking through the village to deliver his goods it was probably one of his favorite parts of the day. He walks past beautiful thatched homes and cozy cottages tucked into overgrown corners. He knows all the families and couples that live around here and longs for their soft lifestyle, the warm fuzzy feelings of it all. When all alone George is actually quite the softie he loves the thought of just living with someone he loves, baking together, and just being surrounded by all nice feelings. His bakery got quite lonely sometimes even with Sapnap’s help, but even he knew Sapnap was lonely most of the time. 

He wishes for someone to care for him, in the same way, dancing in the rain feels. George is confusing with his descriptions of feelings but it makes him just feel even more. And even someone as sarcastic as George loves to just _feel_. What he feels? He doesn’t know, sometimes he cannot even discern his own thoughts. But the feelings he feels are so utterly real, or more so the ones he yearns for. The love that is laying on the wood by a hot fire, the care as in climbing to the top of a tree just to be level with the skyline and see the whole world with the wind in your hair. 

He craves for the things his friends feel. The way Bad and Skeppy are co-dependent of each other to the point of it being borderline concerning makes George the slightest bit jealous, the fact that they could have something so real yet be so happy. Quackity, Karl, and Sapnap just roughing it out through absolutely anything, even the literal miles of land that stands between them most of the time. It makes his gut twist. Puffy and Niki live in a beautiful house with such a simple life with flowers, bees, and each other. Watching them walk through the streets of town together through the bakery window makes his stomach boil with envy. He could never hate any of his friends, he loves them of course, it’s just they all have something different with others he simply does not. His heart hurts a bit but he walks down the path.

George makes it up the small incline off to the side of the village climbing up the small hill. He reaches the walk messy stone path walking up to a familiar huge two story cottage. He walks up to the door standing below the porch’s roof giving a quick knock on the door stepping back once he hears shuffling in the house. Mere seconds later a familiar man with messy black hair answers the door with a grumpy,

“What do you want-” The man cuts himself off focusing on George, “Oh George! What’s up?” George just waves it off and greets him,

“Hello Skeppy, can you get Bad for me? If he’s awake of course,” Skeppy rolls his eyes,

“Can’t I just deliver the message to him? You’re annoying as hell,” George huffs,

“That’s so fucking rich coming from you.” Skeppy glares at him for a moment before grumbling,

“Fine, But only because I love him and don’t want him to miss anything.” Right after that Skeppy turns his back to him shutting the door in his face. You see George and Skeppy do not exactly have the best track record from getting in a fight because George took some mint from Skeppy and Bad’s garden. Which now George will admit he was in the wrong for just not asking, Bad would have said yes, but Skeppy didn't have to _clock him_. The ‘rivalery’ even goes along with the numerous times he has caught Skeppy trying to steal from his bakery. Always bringing someone with him to get him out of trouble like Bad or Sapnap. They don’t hate each other of course but they just weren’t on the best terms right now. George is sure what he has in the cloth will get them on good terms again until they’re gone, he hopes they last a while. 

After a couple of minutes of waiting the door is opened again and Bad pops his head out,

“George?” George smiles,

“Hey, Bad I got that stuff for Skeppy right here.” Bad positively grins as he takes the goods and George sees Skeppy in the back glaring. George laughs at the sight causing Bad to turn and look at Skeppy and he just says,

“Skeppy! Come here look what I got for you!” Bad rushes over to the man and places the clothed goods in his hands. After looking at the things he was just given Skeppy completely switches up his mood and grins hugging Bad,

“Thank you Bad! I’ve missed George’s lame baking! You’re the best” Bad just laughs hugging him back for a second before going back over to George,

“Thank you so much for getting these so soon you’re awesome George!” George grins a bit, _‘I am quite awesome aren’t I?’_ Bad looks as though he’s suddenly remembered something ushering Skeppy over,

“Skeppy! Come over here give me what we were talking about earlier, ya know the thing for George,” Skeppy sets the scone he’d already been munching on aside and walks over. Skeppy gives George a look but with a light nudge in the side from Skeppy hands over a pouch,

“A thank you, I guess,” The pouch is dropped in his hands and Bad is glowing waiting for him to open it, so that is exactly what he does. And inside there is quite a hefty supply of what seems to be mint. _‘Oh my god’_ George lets out a laugh,

“Is this an apology for Skeppy beating me up? Okay if it is that's pretty funny, also I do need more mint.” Skeppy only rolls his eyes,

“I only got one hit in! And I didn’t know it was you, it was midnight,” Bad tries to explain further for Skeppy,

“-And even if he only did get one hit in he’s very sorry for it. you can always come ask for mint whenever you would like, no need to steal,” George nods,

“I’m sorry Bad, I won’t do it again thank you, your garden saves me a lot of hassle and I’m very thankful you let me use it for free,” Bad beams and whispers something to Skeppy. Skeppy looks back at bad with an offended expression only to huff when Bad gives him a nod,

“I’m sorry George, thank you for the scones and cookies. They are always great.” He says that with what George can only assume is the fakest smile he can muster. Bad is just smiling through the whole ordeal thinking it’s going great and Skeppy tries to drag Bad back inside by his arm, away from George. George rolls his eyes at this, _‘Fucking Skeppy,’_ And he quickly says,

“Well, I’ll be going now! I hope you two have a good day,” Skeppy just rolls his eyes walking back into his kitchen, and Bad lets him off with a farewell and warm smile. George, thankful for getting the actual hell out of there before Skeppy jumps him again, walks back down the hill looking at all the cornflowers he assumes Bad planted. 

Adjusting the basket he’s holding he starts to run because there was a reason he left to do this so early in the morning. He loves the morning dew and air just as much as the next person but mornings were just not for him, preferring to be asleep as late as he could. But today he has plans to attend to so he continues the early sun beaming down on him as he walks towards his house. He had to grab a few things then he’s off to the woods.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone leaving nice comments on the last chapter made my day enwiqujsam anyways this new chapter is kinda short but the next one is pretty long so its cool

George now armed with his blue pocket knife, a thicker coat, and a basket of fresh honey cookies sets off into the woods. Even if he currently in the woods for very, very stupid reasons that include one even mores stupid masked man he still takes in the woods around him. He much prefers the sunlight pouring through the tree to the cold dampness that he had felt only nights before. He is now wearing his coat that Puffy and Niki had given to him as a birthday present with a little ‘404’ stitched onto one of the pockets. He has no clue what it means but it’s a lovely golden thread so he just keeps it. He pulls his jacket closer to himself, a cold breeze coming through the trees. George almost forgot winter was starting soon, fall was coming to an end after all.  _ ‘I’ll need to go on a shopping spree for ingredients soon.’  _ He thinks to himself, continuing to thread down the path making a mental list for later.

It’s been quite a while of simply wandering along the vague path through the woods, crunching as many leaves he can with his feet. He looks around at the various yellow hues in the trees, he wishes he could truly see the beauty of autumn. Deep down he doesn’t even think the leaves are nearly as beautiful as the feeling of autumn, the somehow satisfying cold that just relieves you. 

George can’t help but gasp when seeing a familiar stone wall, running over as quietly as he could with all of the crisp leaves scattering the ground. He quickly tosses up the basket hiking himself up the wall to sit on top and not lean over, he’s learned his lesson on that. He looks into the garden and there he is lying on the grass mask and all,

“Dream!” The masked man looks over to him quickly sitting up asking,

“George?” George merely laughs,

“I’m back! I have shit for you!” Dream seems super confused standing up just to stare at him,

“What?” George looks around for steps,

“Help me get down I brought this for you since I felt bad about the how cold thing,” Dream awkwardly shuffles over,

“I just jump down usually when hopping over,” George sighs,

“You and your bloody long legs, just give me a route prick,” Dream tries to explain a route that seems way too complicated to try to complete in the early hours. This leads to George calling out, “Catch this! I’m jumping down,” He tosses his basket at Dream that is standing there bewildered at George whos adjusting how he’s sitting on the wall to scoot off,

“Are you sure? I could probably-” George cuts him off, 

“Just shut up and stand back',” And once Dream walked back to the other wall George leaps off the wall landing on his feet wobbling a bit before falling on his ass, “OUCH! What the hell?!” Dream looks over at the man as he stands up rubbing his ankles quickly, “That was way too much effort for some bloody cookies,” Dream seems to light up at that,

“Wait is that what’s in here?” George focuses back on Dream,

“Yeah, for helping me with my cold, it’s a thank you,” Dream points to the basket the mask’s eyes burning into his, “You can open it, it’s just for you after all,” That’s all it took for Dream to snatch the blanket off the top of the basket picking out the bags,

“Holy shit! Oh god you actually brought me things, I don’t-” He cuts himself off with a happy laugh and George cannot do anything other than stare. It was the happiest he’s ever seen the man as he looks around at the goods in the basket, “Are these chocolate chip cookies?” Dream asks turning back. George can feel a little heat in his ears,

“Uh, yeah, I think you deserve them for having to deal with me sick,” Dream simply pumps a fist in the air and takes them out,

“Thank you, George! These look amazing,” George nods looking anywhere but Dream as he eats the cookie by pulling up his mask a bit. Looking just felt a bit like an invasion of privacy. Dream seems to notice this and laughs a bit cookie in mouth, “It’s okay, you can look I promise,” George replies,

“Are you sure?’ Dream nods sitting down on the far side of the garden away from him,

“Do you want one? It might be a little hard to catch but-” George rolls his eyes and walks over the man to coming to stand where he was just a foot away from him,

“Just hand one to me, nimrod,” Dream lights up at this, handing him a chocolate chip cookie as quickly as he could, and George quietly sits across from him munching on a cookie as well.  _ ‘They have a little too much salt, damn.’  _ He hopes the other man won’t notice but when he glances over at him Dream merely seems to be humming a bit enjoying a second cookie. So George just munches on his as well as they sit in silence. 

A bit later Dream, seemingly done, for now, calls out,

“Those were so fucking good,” George looks at him and just burst out laughing,

“What the hell! You’re so weird, just go get some royal food shit if you want quality,” Dream quickly shakes his head leans forward on his hands,

“No, no yours are different, they just taste better than the ones in the castle. Honestly the best ones I’ve ever had and I’ve been around the pastry scene,” George raises an eyebrow at that,

“What are you? Some critic? If so fuck you, critics can suck my ass,” Dream just raises his hands in defense,

“Hold up- I just get to travel with the royal family and I get hungry ya know?” George huffs,

“You are single handedly one of the sketchiest people I’ve ever spoken too I don’t even know why I’m still here,” Dream shrugs,

“Me neither, maybe it’s my handsome face,” George just looks at him disgusted, 

“That was an awful joke I absolutely despise you and your stupid mask,” Dream whines at this,

“Aww, do you not think I’m handsome George?” George is tempted to flick him,

“I’ve never seen your face but with this personality, I can only assume it is  _ tragic _ .” Dream wheezes at that leaning back on the grass taking in the warm sunlight again,

“Hmm okay then,” Dream replies, humming a random tune a bit.  _ ‘What does that even mean? Why did I decide to talk to him?’  _ Dream seems to remember that George is actually still there sitting up again, “Do you want to lay down? The sun feels amazing right now,” George stares at him like he’s insane,

“You’re a fucking crazy man do you know that?” Dream hums a bit,

“Maybe, but come lay with me it’s nice and I’m tired,” George watches as the man lies back down spreading out his arms above his head. George can only try to comprehend what the fuck is happening right now as he stands up and walks to grab his basket from beside Dream. Dream doesn’t say a word as George circles back around to where he was sitting and scoots over into the sun just a tiny bit. Dream suddenly pipes up, “The other best spot is over there if you want it,” he points over to a place near a side of the garden where the ground is covered in what looks like moss. George wonders over there a with a begrudged ‘thanks,’ He gets over there and lays on the moss actually taking in the sun a bit,

“Woah.” Is all he can say as he soaks up the warmth of the sun in contrast to the cold autumn air. Dream laughs leaning his head on his palm,

“I know right! That’s why I love it out here, it’s so nice,” George just gives a small nod while trying to memorize the feeling of the sun on his face. Everything from the sun, the satisfied feeling he had from his small snack a mere minute ago, and the beautiful flowers all around him were just perfect. Even though he doesn’t know what the hell compelled him to actually lay in the sun with Dream, but he’s a little thankful for whatever it was as his eyes flutter closed just to enjoy the feeling of it. The overgrown garden was peaceful, utterly, and truly. And the feelings of tenderness and calm are not lost on him either. George never knew there were feelings like these that he could feel all in once, all together in a nice warm way. He quite liked it. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> longer chapter to make up for the last one but I'm so ahead in writing right now you guys don't understand lmaoo I have almost to chapter 11 written out rn

George had gotten out of that garden as soon as he could. The sun, the moss, the new feelings, they were all a little bit much for so early in the morning. He sat up and told Dream he had to go. Dream had just made some lighthearted jokes about him coming back with more cookies and George had called him spoilt while he climbed back over the wall. Now he’s running back thinking about the fact that he’s definitely going to bring that damn man more sweets. If he can show him more feelings like the one found in laying in the sun he would bake him a whole village if requested. And the fact he just felt a bit obliged to after all the flattering Dream had done, it had gotten a bit to his head and he truly needs to expand Dream’s Platte to some other deserts. He swings the empty basket over his shoulder, blanket stuffed into his jacket pocket. He can only pray he’s home before Sapnap gets there for his daily check in. 

Breathing heavily George clamors back up to his room falling face flat on his bed. He just tried to catch his breath before realizing Sapnap would in fact be here soon and if he doesn’t want to look suspicious he would have to change out of his now dirtied clothes. He quickly throws on a new outfit suitable for work and rushes downstairs tossing an apron on and heading to the back. 

George was positively drained, he seriously needs to get some rest. Running that much after a cold was not his most thought out plan. But Sapnap comes in later and sees him looking fucking exhausted and actually gasped which would have made George get annoyed if not for his state at the moment. Sapnap rushes him up to his room telling him to take a nap, and as tired as he was, he begrudgingly agrees. As he lay in his bed legs still aching a bit, sleep calls to him with promises of flowers and a certain tender warmth. 

It's been a week and a half since he's gone into the woods. He’s starting to lose the memory of how the warmth felt on his skin. Since sales have been high, and he had stocked up on everything he would need before winter hits, he was quite bored as well. Sapnap was constantly whining about missing Karl and Quackity with all knowledge that if he just used his fucking head he could go visit them. He and Skeppy had been on  _ decent  _ terms for a while now. Not getting into any arguments which was probably just caused by Bad’s presence in all of their recent interactions. But truly his days have been moving at a snail’s pace having to practically drag himself everywhere. Sapnap looks up at George as he lays his head on the counter the was working on,

“Are you okay George?” George just grumbles some incoherent nonsense, and Sapnap rolls his eyes, “If you aren’t going to explain get back to work, this is your damn bakery,” George pushes himself off the counter grabbing his spoon to start mixing his bowl of ingredients again,

“Fuck you, ‘m just tired, I miss the woods I guess,” Sapnap raises an eyebrow in his direction,

“Really? I thought you didn’t like the woods because of the noises out there?” George doesn’t look at him,

“Sure, but some things just make it worthwhile,” Sapnap has both of his eyebrows raised at that,

“Oh, really?” George nods humming,

“Mm-hmm, it’s quite nice out there in winter don’t you think?” Sapnap looks away,

“I guess it is, haven’t been out of this village in a while, last time I went was for training in the castle a while back,” George finally looks back over,

“How’s training going by the way? Is Punz still giving you a hard time?” Sapnap laughs a bit,

“Of course! You know me and him are rivals in every sense of the word. But dear lord there’s this new kid named Purpled he’s insane, you should see him.” George replies,

“Another kid? God soon Tommy and Tubbo are gonna get wrapped up into your collective hero complex.” Sapnap chuckles at that,

“I truly think Tommy is already to far gone in that department George,” George rolls his eyes now starting to mix the dry ingredients,

“Whatever, just don’t get your ass kicked by some kid you have a village to honor over here.” Sapnap huffs turning back to what he was working on grumbling,

“Of course I wouldn’t dumbass, he’s good but not  _ that  _ good,” George just snickers at him,

“Whatever you say loser, also had me that jar of honey.” Sapnap tosses one over right away,

“What’s it for?” George stared at the pretty substance the light from the candles making it glow,

“Nothing important really,” 

  
  


Whatever this ‘not so important thing’ was it has him standing outside of his bakery with a basket in his hands. It wasn’t late enough to where it would be pitch black upon his return but he would have to brave a bit of a sunset. He decides not to take Sugar into the woods as he thinks leaving him in the woods for who knows how long would just be mean. But again trusty pocket knife tucked away he strolls along an embarrassingly familiar path. 

When he’s there he quickly tosses his basket up to the top of the stone wall, pulling himself up following it. Once on top, he calls out,

“Dream? Are you there?” A bit of shuffling occurs before he sees a familiar smile,

“George? Why are you out here right now? It’s quite late..”  _ ‘He sounds tired’  _ George thinks,

“I just wanted to alright prick! I brought you more things so catch!” He tosses his basket to the man who seems surprised at the suddenness of it but nonetheless catches it. George promptly jumps down actually managing to land on his feet this time, even if it hurts his ankles a bit. George smirks at the masked man, “Hello,” Dream just lets out a tired laugh,

“Hello to you too George,” George scans over Dream after hearing how tuckered out the man seemed. His appearance was a little different than all those times before, he wears more of a fancy outfit, more intricate than his regular casual attire. It had more flowy bits and more stitches, George wasn’t afraid to admit it was a considerably nice outfit. George looks at him again,

“This is a new look for you, what’s the occasion? Maybe  _ you  _ are visiting a secret lover in the woods,” Dream adjusts his mask with a huff,

“Of course not, I just had to go to a ball today. I'm just a little tired. People are exhausting sometimes.”  _ ‘Oh god, he’s rich then.’  _ George asks,

“How did you even get in? I thought you were just a worker for the royal family,” Dream looks back at him quite sharply, it scared him a bit,

“Uh- I’m the prince’s advisor so I usually go to larger functions such as those,” George just keeps staring at him,

“You’re quite young for that position aren't you?” Dream nods,

“Yes quite a bit, but I’ve known the prince forever, so he made me his advisor so I could stay in the castle.” George rolls his eyes,

“Seriously? Are you sleeping with the prince or something?” Dream gasps,

“NO! We are like brothers holy shit, oh my god don’t say that again ew,” George laughs,

“Fine! Fine, I just got a little suspicious, you can’t blame me you lied to me about wanting to kill him like two weeks ago,” Dream stills a bit at that,

“Yeah, I could see that, sorry.” George just waves a dismissive hand, 

“Whatever that was Dream two weeks ago, Dream right now has some cookies that I actually want. Hand one over, walking all the way here makes a man hungry.” Dream gladly hands over one of the honey cookies leaning against one of the walls making sure not to lean on a single flower. George munch on his cookie as well, getting a little bored after a while of awkward silence starting to fidget with the knife in his pocket. Dream suddenly asks,

“What are you doing?” George looks to see Dream gesturing to his fidgeting hand,

“Um,” George is tempted to shove the knife further back into his pocket but remembers Dream probably knows he’s armed, “It’s just my pocket knife,” He tugs it out to show him. The shiny blue surface of the blade was truly mesmerizing,

“I haven’t seen it this closeup! Wow, it’s beautiful where did you get it?” George turns it over in his hand letting Dream see how the evening sun bounces off of it,

“Well funny story actually, someone I know gave it to me,” Dream hums,

“Really? Was it a favor?” George replies flipping the blade closed,

“More or less, the person gave it to me for resolving a fight actually,” Dream chuckles a bit,

“You? A peacemaker? Seems unlikely, but do tell,” George rolls his eyes continuing anyways leaning back on part of the cobble wall,

“Well actually the man who gave it to me, Skeppy, and I don’t have the best relationship,” Dream turns his head not saying a word just silently egging him on,

“But even though we fought a lot, we still do honestly he’s a brat, I think bringing back his housemate was enough to settle it for a bit,” Dream seems a bit shocked at that,

“His housemate left? What in the world?” George shrugs,

“Yeah him and his housemate, Whose name is Bad, got in a huge fight. I don’t even know what it was about, they never told anyone. But after it Bad ran into the woods and Skeppy didn’t know where the hell he went and started freaking out.” George pauses to look at Dream who quickly nods for him to keep going, “And I just happened to be out in the woods delivering some things when I hear a man crying. I recognize it as Bad and after calming him down I helped him get back home, it was late as hell and he looked tuckered out. I didn’t want to leave him out there. And once I got back Skeppy was just really happy that Bad was okay and gave me the knife as a thanks.” Dream sits there a moment staring at him before responding,

“That was actually pretty nice of you George, I didn’t know you were such a softie,” George glares at him,

“I am not! Holy- I just didn’t want to leave my friend in the woods to  _ die _ just because of some dumb fight he got in!” Dream leans back against the wall looking up,

“If they fight  _ that  _ bad why do they live together?” George sighs and looks up at the sky as well,

“They love each other that’s why.” He pauses a moment before continuing, “They are just a bit dumb sometimes, both are fools really,” Dream only replies with a simple ‘oh.’ And they continued to sit in silence. 

After an uncomfortable amount of time of just silence and the chirps of crickets Dream stands up and asks,

“Want to tour the castle? Since everyone is asleep or wasted it might be fun,” George raises an eyebrow,

“Why would I want to? Also, we would most definitely get caught you aren’t exactly subtle,” George gestures to Dream’s mask and he laughs,

“I have a spare you could use if you want, also most of the castle servants are on good terms with me so it will be fine. Come on we can see the kitchen!” George considers this a bit, he could get killed as soon as he walks in  _ or  _ he gets a free tour of that royal palace. Was George ever known for his intelligence? He sighs standing up,

“Okay fine, only because my past week has been so excruciatingly boring that I would do about anything for a bit of fun,” Even though he couldn’t see it he could tell Dream was grinning,

“That’s just what I wanted to hear! Now follow me I want you to see as much as possible before you have to go home.” George hops up following him out of the hidden garden, leaving the basket under the tree. 

Dream runs up to the wooden door they’d entered last time fiddling with the lock popping it open. He turns back to George basically buzzing with excitement,

“Okay once we get in you have to stay close to me okay? This place is massive. You could get lost, neither of us wants that right now.” George nods following Dream inside sticking close to him as they walk down the dimly lit halls. Dream whispers to him after clearing the next hall that they have to go down, “I’m going to need to get you some sort of disguise just for the worst-case scenario,” George takes a quick glance at the stairway they are walking up to,

“Where are we even going, Dream? This place is scary as all hell at night.” Dream shakes his head with a laugh,

“It’s a surprise just for you! Don’t worry I’m sure you’ll love it. But first I need to find a certain room…” Dream lets his sentence droll off as he looks around the new hallway they’ve entered. George obviously gets the  _ ‘Okay that’s so fucking sketchy he might kill me.’  _ thought but pushes it into the back of his mind, being pretty confident in the fact that if Dream wanted to kill him he would be dead already. But Speaking of that hallway George takes in the, much better lit wooden hallway massive logs as ceiling beams, and just a nice sort of cabin feeling that came with it. But the cabin feeling truly did cancel out with the fact George is in the royal fucking palace at night time after a  _ ball _ . But Dream seems to find the room he was looking for telling George to stay outside while he goes in. 

Dream comes out mere minutes later with an outfit in his hands which just seemed to be a flowy white shirt and some nice black pants. But upon closer inspection, he sees a hood and mask tucked away behind them,

“So you just want me to wear whatever the hell that is?” Dream nods,

“Yes! It's so if anyone catches us I can play it off better, saying you were a prince from nearby or even my partner to the-” George cuts him off,

“NOPE! Stop right there no no no, just hand me the stupid clothes I’ll play prince for a day.” Dream happily hands them over with a,

“You don’t have to wear them if you don’t want to of course.” George rolls his eyes,

“I know that, I am not a pushover Dream, as long as I get to keep these nice ass clothes I’ll be fine.” Dream chuckles,

“Of course you can keep them, but here you can just go in there to change, it's just a massive closet, I’ll guard the door.” George just walks past him into the room with the clothes shutting the door. After making sure the door was secure he actually looks at the clothes he’s been given. The white shirt was more of a cream color really and the pants were softer than they looked. Quickly changing out of his normal clothes he fastens the clasp of the hood around his neck deciding it looks nicer down. He puts on the plastic mask adjusting it as much as he could just never finding a comfortable way for it to sit. So he just walks out,

“This thing is so shitty take it back,” He shoves the mask back into Dreams hands refusing to look at him. But once he glances back at him Dream seems to be just staring at him, but he truly didn’t know what was happening behind that dumb mask of his. Suddenly Dream seems to snap out of whatever was happening with him and sputters out,

“That’s fine! It does take a while to get used to, let me just get you something else then.” Dream runs back into the walk in the closest mere seconds later coming out with a stunning crown , “Here, I think it will fit you,” George looks at Dream shocked but Dream just seems to urge him to take it. So with shaking hands, George takes the beautiful crown, honestly probably worth more than his life, looking at the blue gems that adorned the tips of it. He looks up at Dream then down at the crown,

“Dream I don’t think I can-” Dream cuts him off,

“George it’s fine those are everywhere around here you’ll be fine I promise, and if you mess it up or anything I’ll cover for you, please don’t stress about it.” George’s hands are still shaking,

“Are you positive it’s okay for  _ me  _ to actually  _ wear  _ this?” Dream nods,

“Of course George! It’s just an object now come with me, I still have that place to show you after all,” George oh so carefully places the crown on his head turning to Dream,

“Is it on right?” Dream stands very still again before letting out a little awkward cough and replying,

“Um- yes it looks great George I think it suits you quite well actually,” After that Dream continues down another hall waving towards George with a ‘follow me’ gesture. George follows behind the cape of the hood swishing around his body. Even as they walk down dimly lit corridors that seem to never end, George can’t help but smile a bit as he accompanies Dream to wherever this mystery location is. 

  
  



	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thought i'd mention that I do in fact suck at spelling so sorry about that it's my adhd lmao

They come to a sudden stop in front of a door at the top of a massive staircase and Dream says,

“This is truly one of my favorite places in the castle, especially at night.” George looks at the wood which was made of a dark almost haunting wood with gold trim around the outside. George watches Dream fiddle with a key he gets from his pocket unlocking the door. Once the door was opened George let out a small gasp,

“Wow,” Dream laughs leading him in,

“I know right?” George looks all around at the stunning what looked like a study. There were several bookshelves lined with old and new books and all types of plants littering the room. The most stunning part of the room would be a window seat covered with fluffy pillows, and god the view. You could see everything from up where they were, George walked over to get a better look and he was right, he wasn’t level with the skyline he was  _ above it _ . He was in awe and couldn’t really seem to get any words out as he just sat staring at the outside forest some new sort of feeling boiling in his gut. Dream sees him staring and asks,

“Do you like it?” George can only offer a nod in return. Dream comes to sit at a desk that was off to the side of the room, George had seen it earlier. “I usually come up here when I’m overwhelmed, or if I just want to be alone. It’s a good getaway and almost everywhere around here is abandoned most of the time.” George regains a bit of mind to say,

“I can see why it’s beautiful.” Dream hums a bit before walking over to a bookshelf shuffling through the books as George continues to stare out the window. Eventually, he walks over to George with a book clearing his throat a bit,

“I thought you might like this, from what I’ve been told it’s very good but I’m not one for baking,” He hands George what seems to be an old recipe book its pages yellowed at the corners. George looks up at him and Dream just nods for him to open it. So he does, he sees hundreds of recipes listed in the table of contents some he’s never heard of before and his eyes widen as he skims the pages,

“Where did you get this? I haven’t seen a ton of these, they seem to be from all around the land,” Dream shrugs sitting on the other side of the window seat,

“I don’t actually know, but I know it was here when I found this place. When I asked the chefs about it they all said they’ve read it before, they must have a book club or something.” Dream takes a glance at George who is totally absorbed in the crinkled pages, “You can keep it if you’d like.” George’s head shoots up,

“I could never! Dream do you know how valuable this must be? And it’s in a library in the  _ royal palace _ . I just can’t it would-” Dream cuts him off with a wave,

“No one has touched it in years George, please, consider it a gift for coming back to see me.” George can feel his eyebrows furrow,

“But Dream I came here to thank you, that is not how this works.” Dream laughs,

“Well, I don’t think either of us really goes by how things work now, do we? We are running around the royal palace at midnight by ourselves. But it really is fine George please, take it. If not for coming to see me it is an extra apology for scaring you when we first met.” George rolls his eyes,

“Dream I forgave you for that ages ago, I’m not one for holding petty grudges.” He glances down carefully brushing the cover of the book lightly, “But if it’s really okay…” George just trails off so Dream finishes for him,

“It is! I promise I’m sure it would be more well loved in the hands of an actual baker than just sitting up here to collect dust.” George smiles,

“Thank you Dream, this is a lovely gift, I’ll treasure it.” And he’s positive he can see Dream crack a grin behind his mask. 

After a while of them, each sitting and reading their respective books by the candlelight Dream stands up placing whatever he was skimming on the desk,

“We have to get you home George, it’s late.” George closes the book as softly as he can, he truly doesn’t want to damage it in any way, also pushing himself off the seat. 

“Okay but I have to get my clothes, that coat is special to me.” Dream doesn’t ask any questions just gives him a quick nod before leading him back out to the closest. Once George changes back into his normal clothes he walks back out. Dream looks at him and pauses for a moment before asking,

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep the clothes? It’s always nice to have extras in winter after all.” George shakes his head,

“I couldn’t not after giving me this,” He gestures to book in his hands, “I just feel as if I'm taking too much.” He says all of this with the guilty knowledge of the silk pajamas that lay heavy in the back of his dresser. Dream only shrugs at his words walking away down the hall,

“Whatever you would like, but if you ever want them just ask, I wouldn’t want you going cold.” George can’t help the smile that reaches his face,

“I don’t know what you would do without my precious baking if I froze, oh boy I might just have to take the clothes!” Dream huffs out a laugh,

“You’re right, I have no clue what would happen to me. But come on it’s seriously late.” George chases after him tugging the jacket closer to his body preparing himself for the cold outside the castle walls. 

Once they make it back out to the overgrown garden George runs over to his basket. He gently places the book in it covering it with the blanket. Dream watches him as he packs all of his things to go. After a bit of silence Dream interrupts the silence,

“Can I walk with you?” George shoots him a look,

“What the hell?” Dream leans back on his heels nervously,

“Uh, I just thought, you know the woods gets quite dangerous at night and all you have is the pocket knife. I could run and grab my sword and just help-” George rolls his eyes,

“I knew you wanted to kill me goddamn. In the woods too? Do you have no class Dream?” Dream panickedly raises his hands waving them around,

“No! George I promise I’m just worried! I won’t even travel all the way with you just halfway maybe? I just don’t want you to get hurt,” George quietly stands up walking over to the wall of the garden and stands for a moment considering everything.  _ ‘He could kill me in an instant if he gets his sword.’  _ but he looks back down at his basket and remembers the book. He remembers the feeling of the room in the tower with it. A new feeling of peace, wonder, and a bit of dust. He looks back up,

“Fine. But if you kill me I am seriously going to haunt you then harass you in the afterlife.” Dream hops a bit,

“Deal! Can I get my sword?” George gets nervous as this,

“Um, do you really need it?” Dream must see how nervous George looks because he suddenly backs down,

“Not if you don’t want me to get it. I can just rely on hand to hand combat if it comes to that, I passed knight training after all.” George raises an eyebrow,

“You trained to be a knight?” Dream shakes his head,

“No, it was just required for me. I could be a knight if I wanted to be though.” George hops over onto the wall,

“Walk and talk with me moron I want to know more about this,” Dream laughs following George over the wall as they walk into a pitch black woods. 

They chat as they walk through the woods about mainly Dream’s knight training. George struggles to admit it but it brings him comfort knowing someone else was there in the woods with him, being alone in the woods with no one is hands down some of the worst nights of his life. But this night was turning out to actually be quite nice.

“Do you see any of the new knights in training?” Dream looks up at the moon,

“Not really, I see them during training but I’ve never talked to any of them, I’ve had no reason to, I’m done with training after all.” George raises a playful eyebrow with a laugh,

“You are so fucking pretentious, can’t be seen with lowly commoners now can we?” Dream looks back a George,

“Hey now! I only can’t be seen with lowly commoners that don’t bring me sweets.” George rolls his eyes, but Dream continues, “But really, the trainees are quite a tight knit bunch. I only really talk to the actual knights, and that’s only sometimes.” George watches as the shadows of the trees seem to weave,

“Do you even have any friends? You’re so lame.” Dream goes eerily silent at this. George thinks about taking back what he said before Dream beats him to speak,

“I don’t actually think I do, huh. Unless you consider me a friend? But then again that would be quite sad, I’ve only known you for two weeks.” Now it’s George’s turn to go silent as they walk. They walk in silence a bit as they reach a point George recognizes as pretty close to Sapnap’s house. George stops turning to Dream,

“Uh, this is where I think you need to head back.” Dream nods,

“Thank you for letting me walk you back, and thank you for coming to see me.” George huffs,

“Jesus, do you ever stop saying thank you? But besides that you’re welcome, thank you for the book.” Dream gives a stiff nod with a wave saying,

“Farewell George, I hope to see you again.” George watches Dream walk off into the woods. Dream is almost out of earshot before George calls out,

“Dream!” Dream imminently whips around looking at him, and George keeps his gaze as he says, “I do consider you a friend dumbass,” A small pause as he thinks, “Also goodnight to you too. I’ll see you again whenever that may be.” They both stood staring at each other for a minute before Dream seems to positively glow. George stands there as Dream gives him another cheery wave,

“Thank you, George!” George grumbles to himself as he turns around towards his home grip on his basket getting tighter,

“Stop thanking me, idiot.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pretty dialogue heavy and a lot of sapnap but dw next chapter has all the pining you dumbasses want so power through it

It’s morning when George walks down from his room pretty groggy from the little amount of sleep he got from staying up late for work. He stretches his arms above his head remembering how it has been a while since he’s gotten out of his house. Despite that, he heads downstairs putting on his apron again, and walks into the kitchen. He suddenly sees the basket he’d placed in there last week, and he walks over carefully peeling the blanket off the basket. He looks into it seeing the book Dream had given him a few days ago. He gently takes it out of the basket placing it over to the side of the counter. He puts the basket away taking a quick look outside to see the thin layer of snow covering the ground.  _ ‘Oh fuck the temperature drop,’  _ He thinks but his thoughts are suddenly interrupted by shouting and knocking at the door,

“Let me in, George! It’s fucking freezing out here!” George rolls his eyes trying to hide the book as he calls back,

“God shut up Sapnap I’ll be there in a minute!” The banging on the door persists as George runs over to the door throwing it open feeling the freezing cold rush in. Sapnap comes barreling in running over the fire George had started in his small fireplace,

“Oh my lord you are such a bitch George, I’m never doing anything for you ever again.” George walks past him back into the kitchen readjusting his apron,

“Whatever brat now get back here you have to make some stuff for Sam today.” Sapnap perks up at the mention of his friend,

“Wait Sam is back in town? I thought he was off doing some knight work or some shit?” George shrugs,

“I don’t know, he just walked in and he’s so fucking tall I immediately recognized him and he asked for some stuff.” Sapnap walks over to see the list George had written out for what Sam wanted and Sapnap rushed to work. 

It had been a while of working in silence before George hears Sapnap speak up,

“Uh, George?” George doesn’t bother to turn around,

“What?” Sapnap seems to be confused,

“What the hell is this?” Okay, now  _ that  _ alarmed George causing the man to whip around to see Sapnap holding a certain leather-bound book. George started to freak out a bit yelling,

“Oh Jesus Christ Sapnap put that down right now!” Sapnap hand it over immediately at George’s sudden panic,

“What the hell George?! What is that thing?” George huffs dusting any flour off the cover,

“It’s just a recipe book...” Sapnap continues,

“George, I have known you most of our lives and have  _ never _ seen this thing where the hell did it come from?” George puts it down on the counter glaring at Sapnap,

“I don’t have to tell you!” Sapnap crosses his arms,

“Of course you don’t! But it would be  _ nice  _ to clue in your best friend now wouldn’t it?” George continues to glare at him,

“What if you wouldn't like the answer?” Sapnap can only groan,

“What the fuck do you even mean George? You could’ve pimped yourself out just to get that damn book and I could care less! I just want to know as your best friend!” George takes a step back. He realizes being a brat about this won’t help and will just cause some unnecessary harm to the other and even him. He wouldn’t let some dumb fucking book taint years of friendship,

“Fine, I guess it isn't even that bad, just sit down or something.” Sapnap immediately hikes himself up onto one of the counters sitting down,

“Go on now, wants so special about a damn book?” George leans back on the counter looking at the book,

“Well, remember when I fell into the garden, like god I don’t know, three weeks ago? The one with the scary man and everything.” Sapnap nods, “Well I’ve kind of been going back to see him sometimes…” Sapnap’s eyebrows immediately shoot up,

“I thought he tried to kill you?! George, you’re a fucking moron,” George puts his hands out in front of him,

“It’s not like that! He just has a really fucked sense of humor alright? He thought it would be funny to joke about being an assassin and oh Jesus christ I am not making a good case for him.” Sapnap huffs leaning back,

“Like hell you are. You know I don’t care what you do in your free time but goddamn this is something else,” George sighs,

“Yeah, he’s quite lonely, I felt bad for him,”  _ ‘You’re lying it’s totally because he stroked your ego.’  _ “And he’s nicer once you get to know him, he gave me that book after all.” Sapnap turns to look at the book in question,

“So he gave you a book about baking? I don’t see what’s so special about it.” George picks it up gently running his fingers down the spine,

“It’s from the royal palace moron, he took me on a tour,” Sapnap yells,

“Wait what the fuck?! The fucking  _ palace  _ George you’re insane! How the actual hell are you alive?! You astound me every day with this shit!” George flips open the book to a random page,

“Well it was at night, no one was there to catch us. Sapnap there’s nothing to worry about, you could even meet him if you’d like, he needs friends.” Sapnap bursts out laughing,

“Wait!- holy shit are you actually pimping yourself out for-” George cuts Sapnap off face screwing up,

“Sapnap! I would not-! Oh my god, I cannot stand you,” Sapnap only rolls his eyes,

“Okay whatever but ‘sneaking around at night with no one to catch us’ sounds so fucking suspicious,” George can feel his face going bright red,

“Okay this is it we are done with this conversation get back to work right now.” Sapnap merely laughs even more at his face hopping off the counter dusting off his hands,

“Okay  _ sure _ George but you should take him around here sometimes, he sounds like he lives pretty far to be near the castle enough to break in or whatever you did.” George rolls his eyes thinking about how sore his feet were for days after walking through the woods,  _ ‘You don’t even know the half of it.’  _

“Maybe, but I’m thinking of taking him somewhere else first.” Sapnap chuckles,

“Back to saying weird shit again already.” George can feel that his ears are on fire,

“You have your mind in the fucking gutter I absolutely hate you. I’m never talking to you about anything remotely nice ever again.” Now that seems to peak Sapnaps interest,

“Nice? Wait where the hell are you actually taking him?” George smiles,

“Oh no you do  _ not  _ get to know, but it’s a place with a nice feeling, he likes places with nice feelings he’s always around them.” Sapnap quirks an eyebrow,

“Really?” George nods,

“Yes, I guess he just has a talent for it, he shows me new feelings. Like, have you ever felt the feeling that being sprawled out under the sun fully relaxed gives you? I must’ve forgotten it but it felt nice.” Sapnap thinks about it for a moment a lazy smile creeping up his face,

“I think I have, you’re just an idiot though.” George huffs,

“I want to show him a feeling like he has shown me, so I'll take him to the best one I know, simple as that." Sapnap’s grin only grows wider,

“You’re actually a moron George.”

George walks into the woods again for the first time in a week. He has a thick coat wrapped tight around his body. He only grips tighter before he pushes through some annoying thorny branches coming to exactly where he needed to be. He gasps a bit taking it all in as he looks at the scenery all around him, a grin finding its way to his face. He walks over to a completely frozen lake standing at the snowy bank. The lake in all honesty wasn’t even that large it was quite small, maybe even just a large pond, but it would do just fine. George looks around for anything that may be around before quickly testing to ice. He finds it to be pretty solid so he tries to stand on it all at once. After shakily walking on the ice for a bit George has deemed it perfect. 

But of course, he takes a moment just to appreciate the feeling that comes with being there on the frozen lake, it's one of his favorites. It’s a complete sense of freedom, and there’s even a silkiness to it. There was the cold against his face as he would glide around the ice in his shoes, he’d practiced just sliding on the ice so much he’s gotten quite good. But the feeling in his gut when he feels the cold air or sees the snow and ice reflecting light making them glow was irreplaceable to him. He just finds it freeing to come out here and just mess around one the ice every year. He would come alone every year as well, he never really wanted to show anyone, it was a nice feeling just for him to enjoy. But maybe it was time to show someone else a new feeling for once. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally made a twitter for this account bc I could post updates n shit on there so yeah its @Bleeding_Cosmos on twitter and I might give some sneak peaks just saying..

It had been a day since George went to check on the lake. He was now in his bakery packing baked goods into a basket while looking at the gracious amount of snowfall that had collected last night with a smile. He packs a variety of goods that he can think can last up under the chill of the outdoors and the all too familiar honey cookies. But as soon as everything is packed George throws on his warmest coat he owns and runs straight towards the woods basket in tow. 

He really cannot stop running. His lungs hurt, his legs hurt, his arms hurt but there’s a cold wind whipping across his face and he loves it. He’s grinning ear to ear having to clutch onto the basket a little harder than truly necessary. But the bubbling excitement in his stomach kept him going on and on, he’s shocked he hasn’t collapsed by the time he gets there. Still grinning he jogs to the snowy wall with familiar yellow-tinted flowers peeking over the top. George tosses his basket to the side hiking himself up the freezing wall and pops his head over yelling,

“Dream!” He can hear a small gasp of surprise when he looks down to see just the man he was looking for laying directly in the snow. George leans over the wall calling out, “Are you crazy?! You’re gonna fucking freeze! My god you idiot stand up!” Dream does just that mumbling something he can’t hear and when Dream comes over to the wall he looks up at him,

“Hello George,” George can only grin back,

“What are you doing? You’re crazy, I wasn’t even expecting to see you here if we are going to be honest.” Dream laughs,

“Aw George I wouldn’t miss your visits for the world, and I guess I wanted to enjoy the last of the flowers before they die off for the winter. I’ll miss them.” George decides to completely ignore the comment about his visits only focusing on the flowers,

“They are quite lovely even if I can’t, you know, _see_ them, I can still tell when something is decent looking.” Dream doesn’t seem to respond just humming with a nod as he looks over the flowers. They sit in a moment of silence but George cannot stand the feeling of standing on the wall any longer calling down, “Come with me! We are going somewhere today!” And hops down before Dream can even whip his head around. George is grabbing his basket when he sees Dream pop over the wall climbing down,

“You aren’t going to kill me are you, George?” George looks at him with a sour expression,

“Oh that’s rich coming from you, do you think I seriously have the strength to overpower you? No way in hell.” Dream chuckles a bit walking over,

“You may not have the strength to overtake me but you certainly do have the charm,” George scoffs,

“Fuck you, god I don’t even know why I wanted to take you someplace nice,” Oh he did know, he would just never admit it. But still, George carries on trying to remember his path through the woods to the lake with Dream right on his tail. 

“I haven’t really been out this far in the woods in years,” Dream says looking around at the trees stacked with fresh snow in their barren branches,

“You live a sad life Dream, I go out here every year, but I do suppose I know the woods quite well.” Dream walks beside him,

“You do actually know the woods well what is that all about?” George replies twirling a piece of fur on his jacket,

“Well I do deliveries out here all the time, especially for some close friends of mine, they actually live around here.” Dream swings only one of his arms,

“Really? Out here?” George nods,

“Oh yes, but they are adventures they are sure to leave in the spring for their travels, they only come here during the colder seasons.” Dream lets out a breath,

“Adventurers you say… They honestly sound quite cool,” George rolls his eyes,

“Yes, that’s all everyone thinks until they actually _meet_ the bunch. They are a nice little family though, just very uh loud. You could meet them if you’d like I’m sure Philza would at least like you.” Dream wheezes,

“At least? Please I don’t want to be hated by them George at least put in a good word for me,” George rolls his eyes,

“No way, but now I am actually going to take you to see them after this I need to see you meet Tommy.” Dream shrugs,

“Okay, I don’t have anything to do.” George huffs,

“I didn’t expect anything else.” 

George is actually quite excited when he sees a familiar snowy hill ahead of him speeding up his pace a bit. The feeling of tranquillity was already washing back over him and he loved it, god this place was amazing. George ushers Dream up the small hill setting the now almost empty basket, they ate along the way, against a tree. 

“This is it Dream!” Dream looks out at the lake and at that moment George remembered he can’t actually see the man’s expressions. Now a little angry that he couldn’t see the _full_ reaction he just waits for Dream to say something, anything really. George wonders if his eyes sparkled, “I visit this place every year around this time to clear my mind, all the blues are nice and I thought you’d like it.” Dream nods turning his head towards him,

“I love it, George, it’s beautiful, probably the prettiest place I’ve ever seen.” Now that makes George glow with pride. _His_ favorite spot being the prettiest place Dream had ever seen just does something to him that he can’t really explain. So he doesn’t try to. He simply starts running to the ice yelling for Dream to follow him.

By the time Dream had actually gotten down to the ice he was muttering things to George who was standing out of the frozen lake about it not being safe and how he should come back. George not entirely listening to his ramble asks, 

“Have you ever slid on the ice before?” Dream shakes his head seemingly a bit ashamed. George grins at him reaching out his hands,

“I’ll teach you.” Dream quietly shuffles over to the edge pond looking up at George whose hands are sitting out in front of him, “Are you scared? Loser, it’s just some ice come on,” Dream looks around,

“Are you sure we won’t fall in? You’re positive the ice is safe?” George rolls his eyes,

“God yes I checked yesterday and it has only got colder now come out here!” Dream sighs,

“Okay, I’m coming.” George smiles as Dream grabs onto his wrists balancing on the ice best he could. George slides back a bit taking Dream with him. Dream is currently just staring at his feet trying to not fall on his ass. George pulls Dream along the ice trying to go as slowly as he could but still gain some sort of momentum. He's laughing along to Dream struggling to get the motions of sliding around down when he gets an actual good look at him. George stares at Dream who’s death grip on his wrists had only gotten worse thoughts roaring in his head, _‘I’ve never been this close to him.’_ And he looks at his hair. It was more gold than he’d given him credit for. George couldn’t look away from it, the way the light reflected off it was mesmerizing, but Geroge realizes that’s a bit weird and tears his eyes away to look at the snow again. 

It's been a while of Dream just tragically trying to keep his balance and George making fun of him for it before Dream gets the hang of it,

“Come on you got to let go Dream, I think you’ve gotten it,” Dream nods releasing his wrists sliding back a bit,

“George holy shit if I fall I’m going to come over there and take you down with me-” George can only laugh as he slides around him,

“You would never be able to catch me out here, you may be a knight but at least I can keep my balance on ice.” Dream gives an annoyed huff,

“Dear lord be quiet if I die out here you are dragging my cold fucking corpse back to the castle.” George raises an eyebrow grinning,

“Who said I wouldn’t leave you out here? I would let you lay on the ice, what a peaceful death. You would also scare the shit out of the next person to come here.” Dream doesn’t even respond, seemingly too focused on keeping up the rhythm he had going with his feet, “Do you like the feeling of this place?” Dream looks up at George,

“Huh?” George shrugs,

“I don’t really know, I just really like how this place feels. That’s probably the only reason I actually travel out here.” Dream thinks for a second,

“I’m not sure, I just don’t think about the feelings of places.” George huffs,

“Yeah not many people I know do, but it’s fun once you start thinking about it. I tend to enjoy places much more than I used to.” Dream comes to a standstill and they are almost in the middle of the lake so they are pretty far out, ice in every direction. George comes over to stand by him and Dream looks around at all the surroundings, the snow, the ice, the trees, and finally looks at George too. George looks right back at him and Dream turns away pretty quickly,

“I think this might be my favorite feeling too.” George’s eye widen before furrowing his eyebrows,

“Really? You’ve only been here once, this isn’t even it at its prettiest. You should see it when I’m lucky and it freezes over in late fall when the leaves are still on the trees, that’s truly the best.” Dream laughs a little before turning away sliding along a bit,

“It’s okay George I think this is a beautiful feeling enough.” George beams,

“I’m glad! We can share it, something just between us, this place can be our secret.” Dream slides over to him,

“Our secret? That sounds nice, just take me here next time you come out here.” George nods already heading back to the shore,

“Of course, I can’t deprive a man of beauty now can I?” Dream laughs shaking his head a bit,

“You never do,” George can feel his face heat up,

“What the hell? Oh my god, I cannot deal with you today,” George immediately speeds up making it over to the shore with Dream far behind him. George stands there his ears on fire, _‘Jesus Christ he’s embarrassing, he was better off pointing a sword at my chest,’_ George doesn’t even wait to see Dream almost face plant while stumbling off the ice, he just runs over to the basket that he’d placed next to the tree. He looks behind him to see Dream climbing up the hill and decides to wait, “Come on, if we want to get to Philza’s place before the sun sets we have to run.” Dream laughs running over to George,

“Aren’t you exhausted? You walked all. The way here and just went on the ice, we can go at another time.” George waves a hand in his direction,

“Be quiet I’ll be fine, I’ve had to travel much further than this for delivery runs,” Dream shrugs,

“Whatever you say, but if you want to turn back I’ll understand.” George rolls his eyes around heading down the path to Philza’s house,

“We’ve have got to get these honey cookies to Tubbo, they're his favorite you know?” Dream matches pace with George,

“Oh really? They’re mine too.” George huffs,

“I know that idiot you eat them like you’d been starved, but I’ve brought Tubbo these for years so he deserves them.” Dream nods,

“Of course he does.” They walk in silence for a bit until Dream asks, “Is there anything I need to know about them? I only know some of their names, after all, I’d rather not be on their bad side.” George laughs,

“Oh if you get on their bad side you are so utterly fucked.” Dream looks at George,  
“Really?” George nods aggressively,

“I’m entirely serious Dream one of them is an ex-bounty hunter he will kill you if you fuck up too hard.” Now that seems to alarm Dream,

“Wait how the _hell_ did you meet an ex-bounty hunter?” George looks at the snow,

“They’re a family, so I met Philza when he came into the village and asked for some things and everyone else just came with the deal I guess.” Dream replies,

“I think that’s strangely nice, family-like bonds are something I’ve always admired.” George flashes him a look,

“Oh? I feel the same, I’m actually quite jealous of them most of the time.” Dream laughs,

“I guess I’ll have to prepare myself for that too then? At least I’ll have you with me,” George raises an eyebrow,

“What the hell does that mean?” Dream laughs it off,

“You’re always so defensive Jesus, but I just like having you around it makes things brighter.” Oh, now that’s new. George doesn’t say anything as he walks along the snowy path to his friend’s house. He pushes down the new feeling of a glowing warmth while his feet crunch against the snow.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GO READ MY FRIEND STRAWBERRYPANDY'S NEW FIC ITS A DNF IN PROGRESS BUT SHES ALSO POSTING A ONESHOT TODAY I THINK (she's the person that beta's all my fics btw) 
> 
> also new fic coming very soon keep an eye out for that but it wont mess with iagorr's updates dw

George looks up and finds a wooden cabin dimly glowing coming into view. He glances over at Dream again and calls,

“It’s over here!” And starts running barely hearing Dreams reply of,

“Holy shit- _that’s_ a cabin?” George laughs walking up to a tree looking over the house,

“Yes it’s Philza’s place, they built it themselves actually,” He looks over at the house, “I know it is pretty huge, it's cozy on the inside though. It tends to be, uh, messy.” Dream walks over to stand next to him,

“Messy? Dear Lord,” George scoffs, 

“Well not all of us have a castle to prance around in at all times of day Dream, you just happened to get lucky.” Dream huffs,

“I know George…” Dream just trails off so George finds it in himself to pick back up where he left off,

“Anyways, are you good with children?” Dream shoots his head up to look at him,

“What?” George rolls his eyes,

“You heard me, how good are you with kids? Or uh more like teenagers I guess. Because there are two scarily active ones right behind that door over there that you need to be prepared for.” Dream looks at the door then back at George,

“Decent I would say? I think I can handle them.” George shakes his head, _‘You can not, I don’t think any sane person can.’_ But George doesn’t even spare him a glance and just leads him to the front door. Georges takes a deep breath clutching his basket and praying to any god out there Tommy doesn’t answer. The door opens and with it, George forgets the universe hates him,

“George! My man! Welcome back to our wonderful massive mansion!” George can only stop himself from groaning,

“Hello Tommy, thank you.” Tommy looks around eyes darting rapidly around until they land on Dream and he practically screams,

“Who the hell is this bitch?! George did you find another man in the woods? How the fuck do you find so many?!” George scoffs,

“I do not bring you random men from the woods like some sort of collector Tommy, you are just horrendously lonely.” Tommy throws himself on the door frame gasping dramatically,

“You wound me, George! You are such a fucking prick, but seriously who is this man? I can’t let a stranger into our house, Phil taught me better.” Dream hasn’t said a word but George can see him fiddling with his fingers,

“This is Dream, he wanted to meet you all, please don’t harass him Tommy he’s a good guy.” Tommy glares looking Dream up and down,

“What’s with the mask big man?” Dream responds probably a bit too quickly,

“Privacy! I just don’t show my face that much, sorry.” George tries to help in any way at all,

“He hasn’t even shown me his face Tommy it’s fine just let us in. Dream isn’t even armed, you could get Technoblade to check him if you’re nervous.” Tommy looks over Dream one more time then back at George,

“Fine, but if he lays a hand on anyone Techno is chasing you through the woods.” George grins,

“Sounds good to me! Now, I have these to go give to Tubbo,” George gestures to the basket he’s holding walking past Tommy into the cabin. He immediately feels the warm calm of the house wash over him walking into the living area. He glances back at Dream who seems to be standing behind him, trying to hide maybe. George snickers, “It’s okay you nimrod, they aren’t going to hurt you, I won’t let them obviously.” Dream huffs standing up straighter,

“Like you could do anything if they attack us.” George shrugs,

“You trust me or you don’t Dream, you have all rights to leave.” Dream shakes his head,

“I do trust you, more than I should really.” George looks to see Tubbo running into the room next to them,

“Well then follow me.” 

They walk into a more cozy den-like area with books lining the walls and a small fire going. Wilbur looks up from his writing as George and Dream enter,

“Hello, George! And you must be George’s friend Tommy just told me about.” Dream nods,

“Yes, my name is Dream, nice to meet you.” Wilbur smiles,

“Nice to meet you as well Dream and Tommy was right, you are quite tall.” Dream straightens a bit at this while Tommy’s whines of protest ring throughout the room. Suddenly a new voice enters the room and 

“Wil for the love of god what is that boy whining about this time-” Philza sees Dream, “Oh.” George goes to stand in front of Dream,

“Hello Philza, I brought a friend with me if that is fine with you?” Philza looks at Dream a look he can’t quite decipher and then back at George with a small smile,

“Of course, any friend of George is a friend of ours, what’s your name, son?” Dream steps to be side to side with George,

“My name is Dream, it’s nice to meet you, George has said great things about this place. It has truly lived up to the praise, you have a beautiful home.” Philza grins at this,

“Thank you! Have you met everyone?” George shakes his head,

“He’s only met Wilbur and Tommy, is Technobalde out?” Philza sighs,

“Please just call him Techno George. You are going to get winded, but yes I think he’s actually hunting. He should be back for dinner.” George nods,

“That sounds great, do you mind if we stay? I could help you cook if you would like.” Philza shakes his head,

“No! George you have to introduce your friend to everyone he’s practically frozen right now.” George looks over at Dream to see he is in fact not moving and George pokes him a bit,

“Dream?” Dream seems to snap out of whatever was happening to look at George,

“Huh? Do you need something George?” George shakes his head,

“No, just come with me we are going to find Tubbo.” Dream nods and George gives Philza a wave as the older man heads back to the kitchen to presumably start cooking. George sees Tommy laying on the floor near the roaring fire,

“Tommy do you know where Tubbo ran off to?” Tommy sits back on his elbows to look at them,

“No, but if I didn’t know better I’d say he’s out in the back doing hell knows what. Maybe even-” Tommy sits up straighter, “SHIT! I promised him, oh fuck, I’ve got to go train with him!” Tommy sprints out of the room leaving George and Dream to just stare at the spot the boy had been laying. Dream merely lets out a small,

“What the hell…?” George shrugs,

“I don’t know, but that’s Tommy for you.” George glances back at Wilbur,

“Wilbur, are you still working on your book?” Wilbur’s eyes light up,

“Oh yes! That’s exactly what I’m drafting right now, I’m so glad you remembered George.” George grins back,

“How could I forget? It sounded like a lovely story Wilbur. The whole plot with the man blowing up his own home? You’re a completely mad writer.” Dream watches the two as they have a small back and forth about a story he’s never heard of just finding he’s better off silent. Geroge looks back at Dream,

“Dream do you want to go out back? We probably should check on Tommy and Tubbo.” Dream nods giving a small to Wilbur who smiles back at him. 

Both of them walk outside to hear the clanking of metal and the screams of two angry children,

“Tubbo you prick! Going for the ankles is a fucking low blow!” And to that, there is laugh and more clanking,

“All is fair in war Tommy! Even Techno fights dirty!” George and Dream finally see the scene come into full view and it is merely Tommy and Tubbo seemingly sparring while laughing along the whole time. The backyard is filled with plants with many varieties growing wild and maybe a tad too untamed, but somehow Tommy and Tubbo had found the only ugly, _muddy_ , spot to spar in,

“What are you two doing! Tommy, you know you have guests over!” George looks to see Philza in the open window glaring at Tommy and Tubbo. Tommy’s eyes blow open and he quickly stands straight with the sword behind his back,

“Uh, we were just, erm,” Philza rolls his eyes,

“Tommy it’s fine, just be more considerate while they are here.” After that, the window is heard closing, and the four of them stand awkwardly in the yard. Tubbo lifts his sword looking at himself in the muddled reflection,

“If you’d like to train with us you could, if you’d like.” Tommy swats his shoulder,

“Phil will have our heads Tubbo! We can’t just _train_ with guests, it's rude!” Tubbo shrugs lowering his sword sadly,

“I just thought it would be nice.” Tommy runs in front of him,

“Tubbo Jesus I didn’t mean it like- god Tubbo please-” Dream interrupts,

“I would love to train with you both if you wouldn’t mind.” Now that has everyone staring at him. George looks at Dream and whispers,

“You don’t have to do this.” Dream shakes his head and walks over to the spare sword picking it up,

“Now, how are we going to do this? I think two against one would be good.” Tommy grins,

“Oh, so you join us just to be a cocky shit? We are going to beat your ass weirdo, Tubbo get over here,” Tubbo grinning runs up to stand with Tommy entirely prepared to duel. Dream does a quick double-take to where George is standing,

“Do you want to join George? You could play the damsel in distress for us.” George scoffs,

“Dear lord, not after you said that, I might just go help Philza out.” Dream shrugs,

“Have it your way, but hey leave the basket by the door, please.” George raises an eyebrow but leaves the woven basket by the door anyways, he didn’t quite want to question Dream right now.

George walks back into the kitchen to see Philza quietly humming while stirring something in a pot. George strolls over him,

“Philza?” Philza turns to look at him a smile reaching his face,

“George! Did you come to help?” George nods,

“Yep, I felt like I needed to help a bit for dragging a stranger into your house.” Philza laughs turning back to his pot,

“About that boy, Dream right?” George nods, “Where’d you find someone like that?” George glances up from the potatoes he’s gathering,

“What do you mean?” Philza sighs,

“Well, I just think he is so I don’t know, docile, for your tastes.” George narrows his eyes,

“My _tastes_? I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about Philza.” Philza sips the broth adding a pinch more of salt,

“Oh, so he’s not your lover? That’s quite strange I thought he was.” George sputters,

“What?! Philza, you scare me, of course, Dream is not my lover, he’s just my friend.” Philza lets out one of his hearty laughs,

“I know that now George! He just seemed so nervous when you introduced him, it’s like you were taking someone home to meet your parents.” George can feel that his ears are flushed,

“He’s just weird like that, I must have scared him with the descriptions I gave him of you.” he pauses, “I guess I did go a little too hard on the ‘don’t get on their bad side Technoblade will hunt you down’ bit.” Philza laughs,

“I think that would do it, poor boy terrorized by George and now by Tommy and Tubbo.” George sighs,  
“I think he enjoys the company, even if he is a bit awkward he’s quite nice Philza you just have to get past the initial cocky bastard as well.” Philza finally turns around,

“Everyone would be a bit awkward when you tell them they are going to a house where someone might hunt them down if they messed up now wouldn’t they George?” George mummers his reply his cheeks heating up a bit from embarrassment,

“Um, you’re right.” George starts to skin the potatoes as he continues to talk to Philza. They talk about many simple topics such as George’s bakery and if Tommy had come close to breaking any valuables recently (he has) among other things. Eventually, They had set a pretty hearty meal out when Technoblade walks through the door,

“Phil, I’m home.” Philza grins,

“Techno! Welcome back, go get Wil we are about to eat.” Techno gives him a small nod and a small, though a bit wavy, smile to George and heads off. George turns to Philza who was setting out some dish at the end of the table,

“I think I’ll go get Dream and the others from out back, do you need anything else?” Philza shakes his head,

“Not at all, thank you for helping George. I had a lovely time.” George grins turning away,

“Me too Philza, I’ll be back in a moment.” Before he could make it out Philza calls out to him,

“George! Make sure that Dream treats you well alright? Techno might as well hunt him down if he doesn’t.” George replies already halfway out the door,

“He treats me quite well already Philza but thank you!” And he’s out the door before he could hear Philza’s chuckle and a murmur of,

“That boy…”

George hurries out to the back of the house expecting to see all three of them sparring out back maybe even a bit of bloodshed, but what he came across was a quite pleasant surprise. He sees all of them sitting in a pleasant little circle munching on the honey cookies that George had baked for them, and Tommy was laughing his ass off at some joke Tubbo just made. George came over to stand by them,

“Hey you two dinner is ready, get inside before Techno steals your spots.” Tommy immediately hops up Tubbo dashing inside behind him with Dream laughing the whole time. George turns to Dream and offers him a hand up,

“Come on, you too.” Dream takes the hand pulling himself up and then quickly turning to brush off his pants. Before they start walking inside Goerge has to ask, “How’d you guys end up like _that_? I wasn’t expecting that from you.” Dream shrugs,

“I guess I’m better with kids than I thought I was.” George rolls his eyes,

“I think you’re just a lucky bastard.” Dream looks at him with a strange tint to his voice he replies,

“I think I am too.”

Dinner was truly uneventful. Other than the slightly aggressive banter between Tommy and others it was a normal dinner. But then again dinner at their house always was nice, the warm feeling of home already there with a homemade meal and people you consider friends around you. It just feels wonderful. And Dream sitting next to him at one of these dinners was something he never knew he needed. He’d felt a little warmer this dinner. 

But as all things have to come to an end Dream and George were heading out the door. George had already said goodbye to Tubbo and Tommy as they excused themselves early to go run around a bit before it got fully dark. So that left him to say goodbye to the others. He waved at Techno who looks up just to give him a brief nod and a much less wavy smile than when he’d first got here. And called out,

“Goodbye Wilbur! I hope to hear more about your novel next time!” Wilbur laughs waving back,

“I hope to see you later as well George, goodbye to you too Dream.” Dream waves a bit,

“Farewell.” And they are out the door,

“Jesus you were so awkward back there.” Dream laughs a bit of a sigh rolling out with it,

“Please, I was scared they were going to cut my head off the whole time, especially when I saw Technoblade at dinner. You were completely right he is terrifying.” George chuckles hiking himself up the snowy hill,

“Well you seem to have some new buddies, I still have no clue how you got on Tommy’s good side though.” Dream follows him up the hill the snow crunching below their feet,

“I have no clue George, one minute I was fighting two teenagers with swords the next they are telling me where they are going to scout for foxes tomorrow.” George gazes at the white snow a smile on his face,

“They all really liked you, honestly.” Dream whips his head around to look at him,

“Really?” George chuckles,

“Jesus yes, Philza seemed to like you a lot, that gets you an instant on everyone’s good side pass.” Dream sighs,

“Thank god.” George hums,

“You got a free meal out of it though so I say it was worth it.” Dream laughs a bit,

“It was worth it alright.” 

They come upon the stone wall which is now covered in snow. In George’s eyes, it looked quite pretty, like it was glowing almost. Dream turns to George before hopping over,

“You should come back to the castle with me.” George stares at him,

“What?” Dream nods,

“We can get you a disguise again and you can steal from the kitchens, George it will be so fun! You can keep it all. I'll even help you get it out, I know the dead of winter is coming soon so you’ll need the ingredients right?” George hums, he _will_ need stock up again soon since Bad and Skeppy's garden should be dying around this time of year. But the _castle_ , having to brave that damn thing again, even the thought gave him shivers. The he looks back up at Dream who waited oh so patiently for an answer and melted just a bit,

“Sure, I’ll go with you. You have to make sure I have the best goddamn disguise around though.” Even though George can’t see him, he can tell Dream is grinning,

“Awesome! I can’t wait- holy shit, okay, goodbye George! See you whenever you decide to come around again!” George laughs and waves him off,

“Bye Dream, see you soon, don’t freeze to death till then.” And Dream was gone. George walked himself back to his house, empty basket his hand and tightening his coat around his shoulders again. It was freezing out there where he was but as he walked his feet crunching with every step he took, he couldn’t help but feel warm. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you guys didn't know a whole ass wheel is deciding my writing schedule rn, but dw next chapter is already written and like 4.7k so I would get excited :)

George walks out of his bakery again, basket in hand, it’s seemed to become a trend over these past few weeks, but this time the basket held nothing. And George couldn’t be possibly more ecstatic by it. George hadn’t even given himself a day before deciding he needs to pick up Dream's offer of stealing from the kitchen. It just seemed like a complete dream taking things from the _royal kitchen_ where they are bound to have some of the best goods they could. Maybe all except the stealing part that made George’s stomach tighten as he walked through the woods. He was quite sure that Dream could get him out of any horrible punishment that could be thrown his way. Dream was the prince’s advisor after all. But would it truly be worth the judging glances of the people that would walk by? He remembers Dream walking with him through the woods just chatting about anything that seemed to get George excited. He decides it's worth it. 

George hikes himself over the wall looking down in the now frosted over grass, but there’s no one there. He panics looking around the area and jumping down from the wall immediately to look for Dream. But that’s when he hears a voice from above call out,

“George! Hello!” George’s head shoots up to see Dream sitting in the branches of the tallest tree in the garden. George immediately shouts back,

“Dream?! What the hell get down here! You scared me!” Dream laughs climbing the tree with surprising ease,

“I was just up there because you were so worried about me laying in the grass last time I didn’t want you to worry about me again.” George scoffs,

“Yes because I was definitely less worried that you were in a fucking _tree_.” Dream laughs walking over to George and George has to look up which is embarrassing as hell in itself,

“Aww so you were worried about me, I never thought I’d see the day.” George sighs,

“Dear lord if you keep this up I’ll worry about you till the day I die.” Dream pauses,

“You’d stay with me that long?” George looks up at him,

“Huh? Sure why not, I don’t see any downsides.” George looks away with a huff, “Other than maybe you doing this shit, being all sappy and stuff.” Dream sees that George starts walking towards the castle empty basket swinging as he walks and runs after him. After catching up he imminently says,

“For the record, I’d stay with you till I die too.” George feels the back of his neck flush and he pulls up his hood to make sure Dream can’t see it,

“This is what I mean, you sappy bastard.” He can tell Dream is grinning behind his stupid mask as they walk through the more neatly kept gardens. 

They are almost there when Dream stops George,

“Okay when we get in there we have to head up to the room you stayed in when you were sick, I have a change of clothes for you if that’s okay.” George looks at the door in front of him then and back at Dream,

“How do you remember where my room is? Also yes that’s fine I don’t mind dressing up all fancy for a bit.” Dream opens the door a little,

“Of course I remember that room George, it's _your_ room remember?” George does actually remember Dream joking about that when he was sick but in no way did he think he was serious,

“Christ, just go make sure there is no one in there.” Dream slips in the doorway for a second before popping his head back out,

“All clear! I thought it would be, everyone is actually preparing to have this lord over later.” George wrings his hands over his head stretching a bit,

“That sounds boring as all hell, what’s the lord like?” Dream sighs running a hand through his hair,

“Would you believe me if I said he is a devil incarnate?” George lets out a laugh,

“He’s that awful? Aw poor little Dream has to deal with dickheads on the job, what will he ever do…” Dream shoves him gently from the side,

“I wish I didn’t have to work with dickheads _off_ the job but here you are.” George decides to shove Dream back because they are both truly children,

“You absolute prick, but tell me about this lord I’m getting curious.” Dream sighs again,

“He’s a conceited drunken bastard of a man that doesn’t know how to run his own fucking house.” George’s eyes widen a touch, _‘Well that was a bit more heated than expected’_ but Dream continued albeit softer, “It doesn’t help that he’s a pain in the ass to talk to, he truly doesn’t understand when to shut up.” George looks at him,

“God if he’s bad enough to warrant all _that_ I hope I never meet the man.” Dream nods aggressively,

“Fuck as long as you stick around me you’ll never have to even _see_ Schlatt at all, he is just horrid plain, and simple.” George’s eyes are far beyond wide at this point but he doesn’t know what to say,

“You could tell the prince you don’t want to be there you know?” Dream doesn’t look at him,

“I can’t get out of this George but I can deal with it for an hour or two.” George hums a bit just to try and lighten the mood,

“You could also sneak out of here with me.” Dream whips his head around,

“ _What_.” George roars with laughter after that,

“Yes! Dream run away with me and you will never have to see the old bitch again! You can live in my kitchen and I might talk to you, sometimes.” Dream seems to shut down a tad at that,

“Would you really? Could I-” Dream shakes his head, “No no no okay the king would have both of our heads if that happened.” George huffs throwing his arms out in front of him for dramatic effect,

“Who _cares_ about what the king has to say! You can sleep on my kitchen floor whenever you would like.” Dream stares at George,

“You are the boldest yet most stupid man I’ve ever met George.” George grins,

“And you are the weirdest lonely loser I’ve met too, but come on I got to go dress up for the royal court!” And George sprints away having Dream run after him calling,

“If you find yourself anywhere near the royal court I will literally pick you up and get us there as fast as I possibly can.” George glares,

“You are not just going to pick me up and run I would yell that it is you and we could be beheaded together.” Dream comes up to walk by George’s side again and whistles,

“You want to be beheaded with me? That’s kind of romantic if you ask me,” George shoots him a playful glare,

“And to think you were calling _me_ stupid just a few minutes ago, where is this godforsaken room Dream.” As if by some magic Dream points to a familiar door,

“Right there, your royal highness.” George scoffs around opening the door,

“Never call me that again, now let me change you moron.” Dream laughs sending him off with a little wave and George walks inside shutting the door. He looks on the very neatly made bed to see something pretty similar to what he wore the first time he had to change here. Except for much more frills and just flowy bits, it didn’t bother him at all as he put them all. The clothes just felt so fancy, and he didn’t not in any way. But he swished the velvet cape he was given in the mirror smiling to himself. He liked feeling handsome sometimes even if he knew it was the riches getting to his head a bit. He walks out making sure not to get the cape stuck in the door calling out, “Dreaaaamm I’m back! the clothes are so nice where did you get them?” Dream turns to George pausing a second while staring at him before coughing a little and saying,

“Well since you fit in the other clothes I got the seamstress to make some just for you.” He pauses when George just stares at him, “Um, it was a very awkward conversation to have, like why the hell do I wear clothes two times smaller than my regular size. She’s nice though so she didn’t question it- shit I’m rambling.” George is still just looking at Dream assuming he’s making eye contact he says,

“I love them.” He hears a little sigh from Dream as he looks back down at _his_ clothes, “They’re just for me? Like- _me_?” Dream laughs nodding,

“Of course! They are all yours. I think you look very handsome in them George.” George beams,

“Thank you! Dream they are lovely, I’ve never owned anything this nice I think I’m in shock.” Dream starts walking down the hall and George follows,

“Well get used to it, I’d get you anything you’d ever want. Price isn’t an issue after all.” George’s ears must be on fire at this point. The prospect of anything he ever wanted? It was a little too much so he just decided to push it out of his mind. He was about to say something as they turn a corner and George practically slams into someone causing them to stumble back a bit. The person calls out,

“Oh, I’m so sorry! Are you okay dear?” George rubs his head a bit seeing the short older woman in front of him and says,

“I’m fine! I’m sorry I’ll be more careful as well.” The lady nods finally seeming to get a good look at him and then her eyes dart over to Dream and back to George,

“If you don’t mind me asking who you are? I’ve never seen you around here before.” George freezes. He looks at Dream who is just staring at him and he hopes he can get across _‘Please fucking help me’_ through his eyes. And supposedly without any critical thinking whatsoever Dream slips an arm around his shoulder and says,

“This is my partner Johnathon, I brought him to walk around today!” George’s eyes were probably bugging out of his head. _‘What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck’_ His face was on fire and he could feel it but he didn’t pull away he just smiled and played along,

“Yes! I’m from out East and he wanted to show me around here! It is very nice, I love it so far.” Dream seems to release his grip on George’s shoulder a bit probably because he just realized what the fuck he just did. But he continues speaking anyways,

“It was lovely seeing you miss but we have somewhere to be, I hope you understand.” The woman grins wave her hands,

“No no! Go have fun boys, I hope you two have a wonderful day.” George smiles at the woman as she walks past them. Once the woman is out of sight Dream imminently jumps away from George and starts blabbering,

“I’m so sorry about that I just had no other idea and- oh god I should’ve asked George I’m so sorry.” George tries to calm him down,

“Dream it’s fine I promise, I couldn’t think of anything either! We didn’t get caught so there’s no problem I swear.” Dream seems to calm a little at that but still seems tense as they walk. George feels a little bad so he puts on a smile and asks,

“Johnathon? Really? I could’ve had any cool name at all and you just had to go with that.” Dream laughs a bit,

“Okay well it wasn’t my _best_ on the spot thinking but at least it’s not like Gerald or something.” George rolls his eyes,

“If you said my name is Gerald I would’ve blown our cover, but now some nice old lady knows me as Johnathon from the East.” Dream hums,

“Well, she knows you as _my_ Johnathon from the East which could either make it better or worse in your eyes I’m not sure.” George whips his head to stare at him as they walk,

“How do you say shit like that!? Jesus, you are even more embarrassing than Sapnap and I don’t even-” Dream interrupts,

“Sapnap? Who’s that?” George has his hands on his face trying to cool it off,

“I swear I’ve mentioned him, he’s my best friend from where I live. He actually works for me sometimes when I need extra help but he’s very fucking annoying.” Dream chuckles a little,

“He must be great.” _‘Oh, that was blunt.’_ George nods,

“Yes, of course, he is. I wouldn’t let him in my house if I thought he was that annoying, I think you two would actually be great friends.” Dream turns at this piping up a bit,

“Why?” George threads his fingers wringing out his hands,

“Well you both are very, how do I say this, _entertaining_. Oh! You also both have basic knight training you could bond over that, he’s a trainee right now.” Dream is swinging his hands one of his fingers tapping at his side,

“He is? What does he look like? I might recognize him.” looks up to think,

“He has dark brown hair, a little taller than me, and he wears this dumb bandana all the time it’s white.” Dream perks up a little at the mention of the bandana,

“That kid! I have seen him, he and the blonde guy get in fights all the time, he should be getting knighted soon if I’m not wrong. But I guess he seems cool.” George smiles,

“I’ll have to introduce you two someday, I’m sure he would be just as excited to meet you, Dream.” Dream looks down the hall,

“I would love to meet him, George, you could bring him here if you’d like.” _‘No.’_ George continues to stare at Dream’s side,

“You can just come into town with me, he would flip his shit if he had to come here.” Dream looks down at him,

“You’re okay with that? Are you sure?” George huffs,

“Of course I am, you're just an idiot, I’m sure the village will love you, they haven’t seen a new face in a while-” George pauses as Dream taps at his mask, “Oh so you think you’re _so funny_. I cannot stand you take me to this kitchen. I want to rob a castle.” Dream sprints off without and word just leaving George to run after him.

Dream runs up to an absolutely massive door and waits there for George to catch up. George does catch up soon but not after scolding Dream for running off without him which just results in laughter from both sides. Dream puts a finger over the mouth of his mask to silence George while opening the door. It creaks open to show a _massive_ kitchen stacked to the ceiling with goods of all types and George audibly gasps,

“Dream- Dream holy shit,” Dream runs in calling out to him,

“It’s all clear! I checked with the chefs earlier and no one should check until morning also-” He bends down behind a counter and grabs something holding it up, “I brought my own basket to help! You can get double the stuff you want.” George grins running around the entire hall taking it in,

“Dream this place it’s completely mad, I can’t- it’s so cool,” Dream laughs putting some spices in the basket as George told him,

“Yeah and this is only the kitchen for the royal family, you should see the kitchen they use for when they need to serve for balls, it’s insane.” George doesn’t even know what to say to that. He just grabs something that looks like cornstarch and stuffed it into his basket. 

Eventually, they grab everything George wants, and Dream practically has to drag George away from the kitchen before it gets dark. They run _again_ which is really taking a toll on George at this point, he isn’t the fittest man in the world. Eventually, they make it back to the garden and George leans against the tree had sat in when he first arrived today to catch his breath, but god he was grinning ear to ear. He looks at Dream who’s running a hand through his hair and also laughing his ass off over pretty much nothing. Just the energy was so giddy and nice. _Warm_. Dream walks over and hands George the basket of things he collected for him,

“Okay make sure to get back safe, it’s going to be dark soon,” George laughs rolling his eyes,

“Of course I will Dream you act like I haven’t ran through these woods with cookies in the pitch black.” Dream chuckles but still seems a bit nervous for him. George simply gathers the basket and hikes himself up onto the wall,

“See you later! I’ll be back and this time you’re coming with me!” Even though he can’t see him George can tell Dream is grinning at him,

“I can’t wait! Bye George!” And wait that George climbs down the other side hearing the crunch of boots in the snow walking back to the castle. He hasn’t stopped smiling by the time he gets home setting out all the new goods where they should go. He eyes the extra basket Dream had given him, it’s beautifully woven with a dark brown material. He quickly grabs what he hopes is a green ribbon (He’ll ask Sapnap later) and ties it around the basket’s handle. After that, he quietly sets it next to the other on the counter and sets off to his room. He just can’t shake this new feeling that’s been following him all day. Maybe he doesn’t want to.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JESUS THIS WAS LATEEE SO SORRY I WAS WRITING THAT LIKE 10K WORD ONESHOT I JUST POSTED LMAOOOO ANYWAYS I FEEL SO BAD HERE HERE TAKE THIS LONG CHAPTER <<333

George is buzzing as he wanders around his bakery setting up for the day. He was going to bring Dream _here_ , to his _home_. And he can’t stop grinning about it. It’s been about a week since he spoke to Dream and stole from the castle. He just wanted to make sure everything was perfect, and maybe everything was sorted out with that lord he was speaking about last time. That stuff can get quite messy. One thing George is neglecting is telling Sapnap that Dream is actually coming _here_ to _him_ but he supposes Sapnap will understand. After all, he did randomly show up with Karl and Quackity. So it must just be a silent agreement in their friendship to not question strangers the other brings home. 

Suddenly George’s ears perk to the sound of the door opening and a voice calling,

“George?” George smiles not even bothering to look up,

“Hey Bad do you want Skeppy’s regular?” And this time George’s head whips up at the sound of another voice,

“No, he doesn’t, we want _our_ regular. Get it right baker man.” George rolls his eyes,

“Hello to you too Skeppy.” The man in question has a shit-eating grin on his face hanging onto Bad’s hand even though the man is chastising him for being so rude,

“Skeppy, please apologize to him, come on you’re being difficult for no reason today.” Skeppy huffs,

“You dragged me out here I just wanted to stay home with Rocco and Rat.” George can see Bad furrow his eyebrows,

“I know you love our dogs Skeppy, I love them very much too but you’ve got to get out sometimes.” He pauses before continuing a bit softer, “You used to want to go out all the time…” He stops once again looking at George then back at Skeppy. A bashful smile covers Bad’s previous frown and he just says, “We can talk about this later Skeppy.” Skeppy shrugs pulling Bad a little closer to him by the hand as they follow George to buy their item.

It would be an understatement to say George was uncomfortable. He was just going about his day getting ready to go get Dream and now… that. But as soon as it had come Bad and Skeppy seem to be quite happy again talking about what they want all smiles and bashful giggles. George wants something like that. Deep down he thinks it’s right at his fingertips.

He snaps out of it when Bad asks for Skeppy’s regular plus some cinnamon scones. George takes the pouch hands him which seemed to be quite heavy, “Its payment,” Bad says as he passes over the pouch,

“Thank you Bad, I’ll get these to your house as soon as I can.” Skeppy leans on Bad’s arm lazily,

“Can you get them over by dinner? Kind of want them for dessert.” George has to keep his smile strained,

“Uh maybe, I’m not too sure though.” Bad softly swats Skeppy’s shoulder,

“Skeppy why are you- fine.” Bad turns back to George with a pitied expression, 

“I’m sorry about him George, but you could come to dinner tonight if you’d like. I have a pretty big meal planned tonight!” George pauses to think because god was that a tempting offer. Bad cooks _delicious_ food and all that for free in winter? He’d be crazy to pass it up honestly. But then he remembers, _‘Dream’_ and he looks back up at Bad,

“I’m sorry but I have to meet someone later today.” Bad frowns and looks at Skeppy who’s just looking up at him and then back to George,

“You could always bring your friend over! The more the merrier.” He punctuates the sentence with a smile as Skeppy just grumbles something he can’t quite hear. George thinks about it, _‘Would Dream want to even meet Bad and Skeppy?’_ But he remembers the tone of voice Dream used when telling him about how he didn’t have many friends back at home. George puts the small pouch in his back pocket and smiles at bad,

“That sounds good, he’s a new face around here so I hope you don’t mind.” Bad waves his free hand,

“No, it's fine! A friend of yours is a friend of ours, I can’t wait to meet him.” Skeppy is tugging on Bad’s hand again and Bad rolls his eyes but you can see his smile, “Sorry George but we should be heading back home, I hope you have a good day!” George waves to them as they leave,

“Farewell! See you both later, I’ll see if I can bring anything over.” And with a tiny wave from Skeppy, they’re off. George turns to his kitchen to start working on what those two wanted and grins at the sight of all his new ingredients. 

George is back in the woods again. But this time he doesn’t have a basket but he does have a horse. He pats the side of Sugar’s head and the horse walks the trail to the garden. George really didn’t feel like walking through the snow today and he had a feeling Dream wouldn't mind it either. His teeth still clatter the tiniest bit causing him to pull his coat tighter around his shoulders, the same ‘404’ one from his previous trips. He’s trying to rub his hands together even with the reigns in his hands when he sees a familiar cobble wall. Even with the cold blowing on his face and his chattering teeth he still managed to pull a smile. 

George runs up to the wall after climbing off of Sugar. He hikes himself up finding it much easier than when he had his basket and he makes it to the top rather quickly. He looks up in the tree and there he is,

“Dream!” And he hears a laugh back,

“George!” Dream hops down to a lower branch then makes it to the ground with a soft crunch of snow under his feet. Dream rushes over to George and you can basically feel the happy energy radiating off of him, “Are we seriously going today?” George grins, 

“Yes! We’re going right now and there’s no time to waste come on now.” George hops down from where he was standing on the edge of the wall and waits for when he sees Dream hop over as well. He sees Dream has added something new to his outfit this time a cape lined with what he thinks is green silk. George thinks it's quite pretty on him,

“What’s with the cape?” Dream shrugs,

“Just didn’t want to be cold, and I think the hood will be good for in the village.” George raises an eyebrow at that,

“You don’t need to keep your hood up in the village Dream, no one is hunting you down.” He pauses, “I don’t think so at least.” Dream chuckles a bit it seemed to have a sad lit to it,

“It’s just a matter of comfort, I’ll take it down as I feel I can do so. Right now it’s fine of course, it's just you.” That made his heart warm a bit, the thought of Dream being comfortable around him. George waves his hand,

“It’s fine, just know I’m sure the whole village will love you no matter what.” Dream huffs following George to where he’d left Sugar on the side of the trial. George hikes himself up onto Sugar making sure everything was alright before offering a hand to Dream, “Hop on, we will get there faster this way.” Dream pauses, his head tilted upwards to look at George on the horse before it tilting down to look at his outstretched hand. Dream looks at George one more time then grabs onto it saying,

“Okay, that sounds fine with me.” And George helps pull him on behind him. George grins looking back at the man because boy the warm feeling just isn’t leaving. It's just feeling nicer, not even hotter, just a bit overbearing. He loves it, he loves the feeling and it comes with Dream, maybe he should be closer to him more often. 

They reach the outskirts of the village Sugar’s small stable in view. George can feel Dream’s arms around his waist, albeit light as if George was delicate in any way. George didn’t mind as much as he thought he would, he leaned into it if anything, a steady grip on Sugar’s reins. 

Once they get off and put Sugar in her stable with some fresh hey he lets Dream take a moment to look around standing next to him. Of course, he can’t gauge the man’s expression, stupid mask, but he can see his head turn looking out at the area. Sapnap’s house was a little further off and up a bit of an incline so you get the perfect view of most of the village from where they are. George waits a bit before realizing Dream isn’t actually going to talk so he instead points out,

“If you look over there you can see my bakery,” Dream’s head imminently turns to where he’s pointing and he stares a bit George giggles to himself at the image of Dream squinting to see his house, “It's not much, but it works for how I want to live. Just bake for a while and walk around you know?” Dream nods slow,

“I think it’s wonderful.” He tears his gaze away from the bakery and looks back at George, “Will you take me there?” George laughs,

“Of course you dimwit, but first we have to visit Sapnap you _have_ to meet him. Who knows maybe Karl is over.” Dream walks alongside him,

“Who’s Karl?” George looks around,

“A friend from another village, Sapnap is soft on him.” Dream snorts a bit,

“The bandana man is soft on someone? Sounds great for him.” George hums as they finally turn to the corner and Sapnap’s house comes into view,

“It's a great excuse to get him out of the kitchen actually, he can go fawn over a tall brunette and I can get shit done. I should bring Karl something as a thanks actually.” George could hear Dreams grin,

“Do you like tall people too?” As if he isn’t looking down to speak to him right now. George smirks and shrugs,

“I guess.” That shuts Dream up. 

They eventually make it to the door and Dream attempts to hide behind George when he knocks. George looks back at him, “Don’t be scared you big oaf its just Sapnap he can’t hurt a fly.” Dream just slinks his way to George’s side,

“I trust you, I just haven’t met anyone new in a while.” George pats Dream’s arm which causes the man’s gaze to whip over to him,

“It’ll be okay, just get ready.” And with that, the door opens and he hears a tired,

“Hello..?” Sapnap seems to get his bearings when George replies,

“Hey, Sapnap did we wake you up?” Sapnap waves his hand and straightens a bit,

“No of course you didn’t- wait _we_?” His eyes shoot over to Dream them instantly going wide. Before he practically shouts,

“George what the fuck?! Who is this?!” He feels Dream shrink back a little pulling on his hood and George feels a little bit of protectiveness,

“Sapnap, this is Dream you remember him right?” Sapnap’s jaw practically drops,

“You’re Dream?! Holy shit George was right about thinking you were gonna murder him you’re scary as hell.” George can only roll his eyes,

“He is scary as shit, he could beat you in combat Sapnap he’s been knighted.” Okay maybe going for Sapnap’s ego wasn’t his best idea,

“What did you say to me? Okay, Dream come here,” Dream steps down a stair as Sapnap steps forward but George has to come between them,

“Hey! No fighting Sapnap you child- he just got here he hasn’t even said anything!” He sighs, “If you want to fight anyone it should be me for dealing a low blow, but we can fight whenever right now you have to actually meet Dream.” Sapnap raises an eyebrow stepping back and Dream immediately comes to stand next to George again. Dream gives a small wave,

“Um hello.” That seems to lower Sapnap’s guard a bit, “My name is Dream- I guess you know that oops, but I’ve heard good things about you Sapnap.” Sapnap looks at George in shock at the last line and George just shoots him a playful glare,

“Georgie actually talks about me?! This is wonderful news now tell me everything he’s ever said to you.” Dream seems a bit confused by the nickname but George starts talking before he even has a chance to respond,

“Shut up Sapnap or I’m going to tell Karl that you tried to grow strawberries for him, but they ended up dying and you cried about it.” Sapnap’s face completely flushes at that and George and Sapnap spew childish insults back and forth. Dream doesn’t say anything he just watches them for a while, he had a small smile on his face but they didn’t have to know that. George turns back to Dream his hand pushing Sapnap’s face away from him,

“Dream we should leave this prick to wallow while we go do something fun.” Sapnap grins and backs out of George’s hand and he suggestively wiggles his eyebrows,

“Oh, something _fun_ you say, well if that's the case-” George cuts him off his face flushing,

“Jesus! Sapnap shut up we are actually leaving now you foul mouthed bastard.” Sapnap only chuckles at Georges flush and looks back to Dream,

“Hey you actually don’t seem _that_ bad but you should come to duel me one day.” Dream nods,

“That would sound great! What type of sword do you normally use?” Sapnap thinks about it for a minute,

“Uh, I don’t know? A normal sword, the one they give knight trainees.” Dream hums,

“That would be a short sword, okay I have one back at home I’ll bring it next time.” Sapnap looks confused at Dream’s quick reply but doesn't say anything about it. George just giggles a little starting down the short staircase,

“Okay we have places to go Sapnap, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Dream follows George down the stairs,

“Goodbye Sapnap, It was great meeting you. I can’t wait to duel, you seem great in-, uh I mean like a great swordsman.” Both of Sapnap’s eyebrows shoot up at that and he turns to George giving him a look that says _‘You’re going to have to tell me everything later.’_ Even with that Sapnap waves them off,

“Bye you two have a good day, I’m going to write a letter, farewell.” And with that, the door is closed. They stroll down the path to the village laughing about what they think is in the letter Sapnap went to write. George holds the back of his hand up to his mouth as he laughs,

“I would wager good money on it being to Karl and Quackity to come back and visit him, he has stacks of letters from them.” Dream chuckles,

“I think it’s honestly quite cute, imagine getting handwritten letters about actually interesting things all the time.” George looks at Dream who just seemed to be watching the village buildings coming to view,

“Well I’d write you letters, but I see you all the time anyways there’s no point.” Dream turns his head,

“You would?” George nods,

“Of course, I have no idea what I would talk about since they only talk about sappy shit I assume, but I’d still say hi.” Dream seems happy at this,

“I would write back but I don’t think you’d want the royal guard at your house in the morning would you?” George shakes his head groaning,

“God no- wait look over there!” He cuts himself up pointing at a familiar woman he smiles and drags Dream with him, “Hello Puffy! How are you?” Puffy looks up at him he seems a bit shocked at Dream’s presence but smiles anyways,

“Heya George! Who’ve you got there?” George points to Dream who is standing turning to find something to do with his hands,

“This is my friend Dream, he wanted a tour of the village!” George looks at Dream and gestures to Puffy, “Dream this is Puffy, her and her wife Niki own this store right here.” Dream studies the small building covered with flowering bushes and you could even catch one of their stray bees on the carnations. Dream looks at Puffy with a bit of bounce in his posture,

“I think it’s wonderful! Your store is lovely Puffy, I would love to go inside later.” Puffy grins,

“That’d be great! Well, I guess I should tell you what we sell basically those bees...” George tunes out a bit while Puffy is discussing the goods she sells to a pretty invested Dream. He snaps back to reality when the door to the store opens and he hears a voice call,

“Puffy love are you out here?” Puffy immediately starts beaming,

“Niki! Yes, I’m over here, with George and his friend.” Niki walks over to Puffy grabbing her hand surveying Dream for herself. After a second of Dream’s nervous fidgeting, Niki smiles,

“You’re very tall.” Dream shoots his head up and laughs a bit,

“I guess you could say that, it came from my father’s side.” Niki nods turning towards George,

“I hope you too have a lovely day but Puffy and I are going to Sam’s house for dinner since I could never pass up his shrimp dish!” Puffy looks shocked turning to her wife,

“Oh my god, I forgot that’s today! Oh boy, I love his shrimp! It makes me feel like I’m back on the sea again! Oh dear, we’ve got to get going then.” Puffy turns back to Dream and George waving, “Sorry boys but date night with the Mrs. is top priority! I’ll talk to you later George, I hope to see you again Dream.” They walk inside chatting about their plans and George and Dream have been left outside once again.

They were back walking down the road but George noticed it was getting later and turns to Dream,

“Hey Dream?” The man hums,

“What is it, George?” George looks down the village path,

“Would you like to go to dinner with me? My friends invited me and they said you could tag along if you’d like.” George and practically feel the happiness radiating off of Dream,

“Wait are you serious? George, I haven’t had a proper sit-down dinner I’ve actually enjoyed since our visit to Philza’s house, I’d love to go with you.” George grins,

“Well then, we better head to my place to get ready then, it’s getting later.” Dream is practically bouncing already as they are walking down the path down to George’s bakery but George decides to do something he might later regret but decides in the moment is a good idea. He reaches over and as carefully as he could he took Dream’s hand intertwining their fingers. Dream lets out a little gasp and George is so tempted to pull away and apologize right then and there, but he only gets a rush of joy when Dream lightly squeezes back. 

They make it to George's bakery and Dream cannot stop freaking out about it,

“George this is the cutest place I’ve ever seen!” George smiles as Dream practically drags him around his own bakery pointing to everything he finds even remotely interesting. He comes to the kitchen and points at the door, “Can we go in there?” George laughs he can feel the grin on his face,

“Of course just walk in.” Dream grips George’s hand a little harder walking in and gasping at the kitchen. George was quite proud of his kitchen, it was messy he won’t deny it but the mix of everything in some orderly chaos made it feel lived in. One of his favorite things is the feeling of just humming and making up an order and now Dream is here freaking out acting like a kid in a candy store. It would be fair to say the feeling was tripled. 

After showing Dream around his little home he realized that it was in fact starting to get dark,

“Oh shit, Dream we’ve got to go.” Dream looks up from the other side of the room where he was looking at some honey in a jar swirling it,

“Really?” George sighs smiling making his way to the door,

“Yes really you nimrod, now come over here or Skeppy is going to throw a hissy fit.” George grabs the basket of baked goods he’d made for Skeppy and Bad before getting Dream and starting on his way on. Dream follows and they start walking down the path towards the small flower covered hill not too far from his place. 

The next thing they know George is knocking on the door quickly stepping back to whisper,

“They’ll love you especially Bad, just get ready they are really uh,” He pauses to find the right word, “Vocal.” The door is flung open and they are met with a hyper looking Skeppy,

“Hey George-” He looks at Dream and cover his mouth in shock for a second, it’s probably the mask before Dream says a small,

“Hello, my name is Dream.” George laughs at Skeppy’s expression,

“Yeah this was the friend I was telling you and Bad about early, he just has a cool mask.” Skeppy shakes his head a bit after almost gawking at Dream,

“Uh- yeah cool. Let me just go get Bad,” And with that Skeppy walks back inside calling for Bad. Dream whispers to George,

“Is he scared of me?” George giggles whisper back,

“No way, he’s just going into shock _Skeppy_ will be back in a couple of minutes just you wait.” Another voice chimes in,

“Oh, George! And you’re Dream? That’s what Skeppy told me at least.” Bad is smiling at them with Skeppy practically hanging off his side,

“It’s nice to meet you Bad, thank you for letting me tag along to dinner with George.” Bad laughs trying to pry off Skeppy,

“No no! It’s fine, you don’t have to be so formal we are all friends here!” Dream seems to relax a bit at this and replies,

“Thank you Bad.” George grins at both of them happy they are getting along and looks at Bad,

“Hey what do you have for dinner Bad?” Bad claps his hands and gestures for them to come in,

“Right over here! Skeppy set the table earlier and I just put the food out!” Skeppy mumbles something about being embarrassed as George and Dream make their way into the massive cottage. The smell of fresh food hits them both and it’s really heavenly, Bad knows what he’s doing. They walk up to their massive table, George doesn’t even know why they haven’t he knows for a fact Skeppy and Bad don’t use it and sit down. In front of them, there was an assortment of delicious things in front of them, George’s mouth practically watered as he gathered some chicken and corn onto this plate. Bad was happily surveying everyone asking if everything was alright until he looked at Dream and nervously laughed, “Um Dream your mask?” Dream looks up,

“Oh! I just push it up when I eat, don’t worry.” Bad nods a strange look on his face but he looks back at Skeppy where it’s replaced with something like teasing affection. After a while of just chatting about everyday life around the village Skeppy asks Dream,

“Hey, you never told us where you’re from?” Dream looks at George who just has wide eyes and looks back over to Skeppy,

“I’m from up North George met me when I was on a hunting trip actually.” George smiles should’ve expected an easy lie from him, he can’t say he minds,

“Yeah, he scared the sh-crap out of me! He had a sword and everything the mask did not help.” Skeppy is basically cackling in his chair and Bad is trying to hide his laughter with his hand. George tucks back into his meal when he hears Bad ask,

“How did you two start to get along? That sounds like a pretty bad first impression.” George shrugs swallowing,

“We had a deal, and I came back to see him and now he’s eating dinner in my friend’s house.” Bad smiles it seems to satisfy him but Dream asks,

“If you don’t mind, how did you two meet?” Skeppy and Bad look at each other basically having a conversation with their eyes ending with laughter Bad turning to Dream,

“Sorry Dream, that's a _long_ story, if you come back when it isn’t so late I’d love to tell you how I met this muffinhead.” Dream nods not even seeming to notice the use of ‘muffin’ he’s had a long day. George stands up from the table seeing everyone is done,

“I think it’s time I help Dream set off, it’s pretty late, but thank you for the food, it was amazing as always.” Dream nods standing up to stand by him,

“I think that would be best, thank you two for having me. You seem lovely and the food was great.” Bad beams at the words and George can barely catch Skeppy looking away with a smile,

“Well, you are a lovely guest Dream you’re welcome back anytime! I hope you have a safe trip back,” Skeppy stands up taking everyone’s plates,

“I’m going to wash these but bye George, bye Dream have a goodnight.” George was happy to say Skeppy’s words had a bit less bite to them than before. But then again it could be because of the small kiss he received on the head before he bounced off with the dishes. George and Dream walk out of the house with many more cheerful goodbyes as they leave. Once they actually make it out they stand on the porch for a second before Dream asks,

“Are they..?” George sighs and starts making his way down the hill,

“No one knows, we’ve all tried to ask.” Dream laughs running down to meet his side,

“Well they seem happy anyways, I’m truly jealous of them.” George snorts a bit,

“You’re telling _me_ I’ve had to sit through dinners with just them, you weren’t even there as a buffer. It’s worse trust me.” George laughs as they make it back on the main path, “At least it didn’t end with me and Skeppy fighting, I guess he even wanted to make a good impression on you. Dream you’re so popular! How does it feel?” Dream wrings his hands out practically giggling,

“I like it, I really do. I haven’t- there were so many people that just wanted to _talk._ It was so weird.” George nudges his shoulder against Dreams,

“Well they all want to talk to you again, they all love you there’s nothing to be worried about you moron.” Dream lets out a happy sigh and pulls his hood down his hair showing again,

“I’m so happy right now you have no idea.” Dream grins looking back at him the warm feeling practically running through his veins,

“Oh I definitely do, now let’s get you home.” Dream watches as George runs down the empty barley lit path gesturing for him to follow. 

They stand at the edge of the woods where’d come through,

“Thank you for showing me around George, this was probably one of the best days of my life.” He pauses rubbing his arms, “I’ve never felt more alive out here, or just with you in general. God, you’ve done more than you could possibly know George.” George smiles even though he can feel that his ears are on fire,

“You’ve done a lot for me too Dream, you’ve made life feel a little better. Just more vivid in a way. I love it.” Dream stands for a second and then he opens his arms,

“Uh could I?” George laughs walking right over to him,

“You don’t even need to ask.” And George can feel Dream’s arms wrap around him along with the fact the man was practically buzzing. George sighed, he didn’t mind at all and just hugged him back. Dream smells like roses. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chat with me on twitter cause all my readers are hot and cool @Bleeding_Cosmos  
> (also if you have any questions about this story just comment them!! I always wonder if you guys have anything to ask me :])


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can't think of any good notes but hey I write in Lora 11 point font 1.5 spacing on google docs just so you know (and sorry if this is a little late my health is like not good rn lolol and im at the beach)

Dream had left George standing by the edge of the woods last night, he can almost still feel his warmth. But now it’s the next day and he’s wandering around town once again. He needs to see Sapnap, he needs to tell almost  _ anyone  _ about what the hell happened last night. 

Dream had waited till George let go of him then left with a few quiet goodbyes and a promise to see each other again. Well Dream had actually wanted to see him again  _ today  _ but that was for later, right now it was way too early to be awake. And as everyone does when stressed with things like this they go to harass their best friend. 

George all but ran down the dirt path, dishing out quiet ‘sorrys’ to everyone he almost runs into. He manages to find his way onto Sapnap’s doorstep out of breath knocking as hard as he can on the door. It’s met with yelling from inside and a bit of shuffling till George comes face to face with a semi-angry Sapnap,

“What the fuck could you possibly need right now?” George grins letting himself into the house still catching his breath,

“What could I  _ not  _ need this early! Sapnap I have too much to tell-” His eyes snap over to a mess of brown hair on peaking out from the back, “-Karl?” The man in question peaks his head out from where he was standing eyes lighting up,

“Oh, hey George!” George looks around and then back to Sapnap,

“Where’s Quackity then I know you’re hiding that bastard.” Sapnap awkwardly coughs blushing at the ears,

“He’s uh- sick, he told Karl he couldn’t come this time.” Karl nods walking over to the two,

“Yeah! He just woke up with a massive headache and said he wasn’t going to be able to make it today, pretty sad.” George raises an eyebrow at Sapnap who looks  _ very  _ embarrassed,  _ ‘Oh, Sapnap I know what you said in those letters now.’  _ George can feel a smirk being to crawl up his face, but for Sapnap’s sake, he won’t pry,

“Aw, that sucks, but what have you guys been doing? I just came over to chat with Sapnap about something.” Now it was Sapnap’s turn to raise an eyebrow,

“Well we were just talking about Dream while making some salad for lunch, Karl had some questions about him. I for one do too.” Now it’s George’s turn to get embarrassed as Karl claps his hands together,

“Let’s sit down! I’ll get some of the salad Sapnap and I just made.” With that Karl is out of the room leaving Sapnap and George to sit. They do, Sapnap lives quite comfortably for a man alone after all,

“So…” George starts with a playful tone, “How much did you pay Quackity for this?” Sapnap groans putting his head in his hands,

“Can I even lie to you?” George laughs,

“Nope!” He replies popping the p. Sapnap leans back dragging a hand down his face,

“Like what, I think a sack of gold coins? I don’t know, but it was enough to buy a horse.” George is laughing his ass off at this point,

“You bloody idiot! God Quackity must’ve gotten a fucking kick out of this!” Sapnap rolls his eyes yet refuses to look at him still flushed,

“You never shut your mouth now do you…” George was about to continue with his teasing when Karl walks in bounding over,

“Hey! I got the salads here you two go,” George, the amazing friend he is, shuts himself up with one final playful smile at Sapnap. At this point, Sapnap is totally ignoring him just having a small conversation about the actual salad which is boring as all hell but George won’t say that in Sapnap’s own house. Karl sits down with Sapnap and looks at George,

“So what’s all this that I’m hearing about Dream? Who the hell is he, apparently he threatens Sapnap’s masculinity because of his height-” Sapnap turn to his face flushed for the third time today,

“Karl that is not-! Jesus, I should’ve never mentioned how tall he was, Karl has been bullying me all day,” George would also poke fun at him just he’s a bit stuck with being shorter than  _ all  _ of them so he just ignores it,

“Well Karl, Dream is my friend-” Sapnap snorts at that, “-from out of town, we just like hanging out,” Sapnap wiggles his eyebrows suggestively nudging Karl who is giggling,

“‘ _ Hanging out _ ’” George can feel his face heat up,

“No! You absolute pervert, I hate your guts.” Karl calms himself even is Sapnap is still laughing his ass off,

“All Sapnap told me was he had a mask and was tall, anything else crucial to note about him?” George rubs his chin a bit,

“Uhh that sounds like the basics, he’s nice though, also Sapnap challenged him to a swordfight I thought he would mention that.” Sapnap leans back groaning as Karl leans forward eyes sparkling,

“He  _ what _ ?! A sword fight?!” George grins nodding,

“Dream is an actually trained night too! It was kind of idiotic.” Karl turns to Sapnap,

“You actually challenged a knight to a sword fight?! I don’t know whether to think you’re cool or a moron.” Sapnap sits up,

“Can I be both?” Karl giggles,

“Of course!” They giggle to themselves for a few more minutes, George staring at them not knowing what to say. They were in their own little world, not much to say to them. Sapnap turns back to George sly grin back on his face, 

“Sooo why’d you even bring him ‘round here?” George sets his bowl down now finished,

“He is the loneliest man I have ever met, he needed to get out for once.” Sapnap snorts

once again,

“Yeah yeah whatever you say, are you sure you aren’t just trying to woo him with all

your fancy sweets?”  _ ‘If I wanted to I could have done that ages ago.’  _

“I am not! He just wanted new friends is that too much to ask?” Sapnap looks a bit guilty with that and Karl pipes up,

“I heard you traveled into town after you left here! Did you guys catch anyone else?” George nods,

“Yes, we caught Niki and Puffy before those two went to Sam’s dinner and Bad and Skeppy invited us over to their place. It was an eventful night really.” George is honestly sick of small talk, he’s basically itching to tell  _ someone  _ about what happened at the end, “Sapnap erm- could I talk to just you for a minute?” Karl’s eyes go wide and he turns to Sapnap, Sapnap shrugs and turn to George,

“Fine with me, Karl, you can just go look around. I think I have some leftover strawberry cake somewhere.” At the mention of the cake, Karl jumps up,

“Sounds good! Talk to you later George!” George waves with an awkward smile, he frankly feels awful for kicking him out but he doesn’t seem too hurt, 

“Okay, farewell Karl,” Karl bounces out completely unfazed with the promise of cake leaving Sapnap to turn and playfully glare at him,

“What the hell happened George?” And George feels a giddy laugh bubble up in his stomach a smile making its way onto his face,

“Well, he kind of hugged me then told me to come to meet him today.” George brings his hands to his cheeks, he can feel them heat up. Sapnap stares at him a slack look on his face before he bursts out laughing,

“God! You smitten bastard! Go see him!” George’s eyes snap back up to Sapnap,

“What?” Sapnap rolls his eyes standing up for where he was sitting,

“You moron, go see the poor man! What are you waiting around here for?” George stands up with him glaring back with a smile,

“I just wanted to tell someone! I don’t know why I even bothered, go fawn over Karl or something, I’ll go see him.” Sapnap turns his head but George can clearly see his ears darken, 

“Jesus learn to shut up, but seriously go profess your undying love for the scary mask man. You’re leaving him in the snow all alone!” George blushes at his words but takes off towards the doors anyways,

“Bye Sapnap! I’ll tell you what happens later!” Sapnap ushers him out and George is sprinting to his house grin on his face. 

  
  


George is in the dead of the woods. Dream had told him to meet him at the lake which was strange, but George truly didn’t care. George is running, tightening the coat around his shoulders. 

This was another feeling he loves, the feeling of the snow crunching beneath his feet as he ran through the woods. The knowledge he is probably flushed from the cold but still grinning made his whole body feel warmer. He didn’t even bring his trusty basket this time, what even was there to bring? Dream had only asked for him, and for that he would provide. 

He climbs over an all to familiar snowy hill dragging himself up looking over the frosted lake. The lake was the same as they had left it crystal and pristine, the snow practically glowing. Then George looked down, there he is sitting in the snow like an idiot,

“Dream!” He calls grinning, Dream whips his head around standing up,

“George!” George laughs running down basically barreling into Dream. Dream certainly wasn't expecting that as he lets out a soft ‘oof’ noise stumbling back a bit holding the other man. George is still laughing while he’s hugging Dream looking up at him,

“Hello!” George once again curses the man’s mask when he can’t gauge his reaction, he gets a bit self-conscious loosening his grip. Dream noticing immediately hugs him back and replies,

“Hello to you too! I’m so glad you came!” George laughs,

“You know I wouldn’t miss it you fool.” Dream backs up as George lets go letting out a little chuckle, 

“I know I know,” He watches Dream look out towards a clear patch of grass under a tree not drowned in snow like their surroundings. Dream turns to look at him pointing a thumb in the direction of the spot,

“Want to sit down?” George shrugs,

“Why not?” He follows Dream as he walks over settling himself right beside the taller man facing the frozen lake. They don’t say anything for a while, George is pretty positive Dream is trying to gather his words. George gives him the time, he stares out at the lake watching the ice sparkle and glimmer, the clouds in the sky only letting a tiny bit of sun through. Dream clears his throat and George looks over to him with a,

“Hm?” If Dream’s body language was saying another he was nervous as all hell, his fingers fidgeting next to him, his hunched over posture, even just the way he cleared his throat,

“I just-” He sighs, “-You know I brought you out here to tell you something right?” George’s heart begins racing. Of course, he knew that’s why he was out here, he’s not completely daft, but god him actually saying it, he doesn’t even know why it affects him,

“Yeah, I did.” Dream raises his hand to his hair running it through the sandy blonde strands,

“Well, I might as well you know… tell you.” George watches Dream’s grip on his cape tighten, “I’m not the prince’s advisor.” George’s thoughts stop, 

“What?” George can hear Dream’s sharp intake of breath but his mind is elsewhere, his mind is connecting things he never knew connected. He could feel his eyes dart around as he linked things within his head, but as he always does Dream shattered his thoughts,

“I’m the prince.” It clicked. Everything made sense. The nights in the castle running around, his fear of not getting caught nor lost. The way he had knight training, his casualty towards something as precious as a crown,

“God.” Dream put his head in his hands,

“I’m so sorry for not telling you George, you just mean  _ so much  _ and I couldn’t have this ruin it.” George is still thinking they stay silent for a moment,

“You’re prince Clay?” Dream nods,

“I am. I’m so sorry.” George gently pulls Dream’s hands away from his mask and does the one thing Dream needs, he smiles at him,

“No need to be sorry, I’m not mad, just a bit surprised.” Dream sighs and George can feel the way his body shuttered through the loose grip on his hands,

“You’re not?” George laughs,

“Not at all, I just want you to tell me why you did it.” Dream tilts his head up,

“Why I lied?” George hums,

“Mhm,” Dream relaxes,

“I didn’t want you to treat me differently, or even worse be scared.” George snorts,

“Scared? Of you? That was a one time thing.” Dream shrugs,

“Some people are, they find me intimidating my status and all, you were different. You had no reason to come see me all these times, you came of your own free will, I couldn’t ruin  _ that _ .” He takes a deep breath in, “You call me Dream, not even my given name. I truly like Dream better though, will you still call me that?” George chuckles looking out at the lake,

“Of course I will, I didn’t plan on switching anyways.” Dream leans back on his now free hands,

“Will you still come to the garden?” George turns back to him,

“Sure, I have no intentions on letting you starve without me.” Dream finally laughs and its music to his ears,

“I’m glad utterly and truly,” There’s a small moment of silence before Dream continues, “Will you still treat me the same?” George scoffs,

“It would be hard to treat you any differently, of course, I will.” George can feel the happiness radiating off of Dream,

“I should’ve told you sooner.” George laughs leaning back next to him,

“Probably, I wouldn’t have cared, either way, at least I know I was stealing from  _ your  _ castle instead of your friend’s.” George is taking this better than even he thought he would. On the inside, he was freaking out a bit, but then again who wouldn’t? This man who’s shown him so many beautiful things also happens to be a prince? Not just any but a prince who wastes his days away with him. A prince who, now that he thinks about it, skips his duties to just be with him. A prince who doesn’t think of him any less, so why would he think of him as anything more? A prince that is lovely in every possible way he could think,

“Do you want to stay here for a bit? I have to speak to a baron later, I’m not looking forward to it.” George smiles,

“Do you want to tell me about it?” Dream perks up and starts talking, George just sits back and watches. He loves watching Dream talk, he can’t even see the man’s face but the way he talks with his hands is just so endearing. The man has almost hit him on multiple occasions when talking and immediately says his sorrys, but George thought it was more funny than anything and told him it was fine. What we would never say is he found it adorable, that’s locked away just for him to think. He keeps it hidden in his heart lock and key as he continues to stare at the man talking in front of him. 

Dream dusts himself off and offers a hand to George which he gladly takes pulling himself up. They’d finally made it back to George’s village before it got dark and Dream is sending him off with,

“Uh, well, goodbye George.” It was painfully awkward, but considering the kind of day they had George doesn’t blame him,

“Farewell Dream, I’ll see you again soon.” George begins to turn around to walk to his home when he feels a small tug on his sleeve. He looks back and sees Dream with his arms slightly open, it was shy, George couldn’t help but melt.  _ ‘Cute.’ _ George sighs a smile gracing his face and walks over wrapping the man in another hug. He can feel Dream lighten up and soon hug him back holding him as tight as he could. 

They stay like that for a bit until he hears a soft,

“Promise?” George looks up,

“Hm?” He sees a mask looking down,

“Promise you’ll come back to see me?” George chuckles,

“Of course, I’ve never left you there alone for too long, I never will.” Dream squeezes him tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> talk to me or get updates on this story on twitter :D @Bleeding_Cosmos love u all


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope u people that are tired of slowburn like this one, this is to relieve some pain, also mainly filler no dream :( BUT next chapter OH BOY

George has decided he hates the snow. He loved it in the beginning as all people do when it would fall in the right places and shimmer in all its glory. Now it was just an obstacle, a very annoying one at that. It gets in the way of almost everything, like when he tries to walk around town for deliveries but can barely walk out of his own house, even when he tries to see  _ Sapnap  _ for god’s sake, the universe really does hate him. 

That does leave George to giggle by the fire imagining how bad Sapnap must be freaking out now that the storm hit and he’s quite literally trapped with the object of his affection. George isn’t jealous, he has no reason to be. The boiling tar of a feeling in his stomach says otherwise, but he keeps it at bay with the sweet tang of honey and lemon tea. 

It’s been a week, maybe two, George doesn’t really know. Time blurs when all you can see outside is snow, the substance looking less white and puffy and more smooth in a looming slimy way. It’s less thick, more walkable, you could travel through it if you would like it’s just not the  _ brightest  _ idea. George is glaring at the thinner layer of snow that sits outside through his front window when he hears the front door open and a voice calls out,

“Hey, George are you here?” George immediately feels some of the stress leave his body and he turns to the familiar voice,

“Jesus Sapnap you have no clue how much I missed you and your dumb bandana.” Sapnap huffs at him tightening the coat that now that George thinks about it he doesn’t recognize around his shoulders,

“Okay if that’s how this is going to be I’ll take my leave.” George stands up frantically he can feel his eyes going wide,

“Sapnap  _ no _ .” Sapnap laughs and turns around and says,

“You must be horrendously lonely,” George puts his head in his hands mumbling back,

“You don’t even know the half of it,” He peaks through his fingers up at Sapnap continuing, “You’ve had Karl this entire time I’ve been stuck in this goddamn bakery for so long, my legs are going to be weak as all hell.” Sapnap straightens up a bit at the mention of Karl saying,

“At least I’m stuck with a pretty boy. You are a little loser who doesn’t get to see his tall man.” George scoffs,

“Nothing in the sentence you just said made sense, did Karl whack you in the head?” Sapnap hums,

“No, but I wish he would.” George’s face heats up  _ for  _ Sapnap as he snaps back,

“ _ Sapnap _ Jesus Christ, I should kick you out in the cold.” Sapnap walks over to the door calling back with a lazy smile,

“Maybe I’ll just leave you then I was only dropping by to see if your corpse was rotting yet…” Ignoring the man’s completely morbid statement George rolls his eyes,

“Go, see if I care maybe I’ll just tell Karl-” Sapnap cuts him off his off eyes wide,

“Don’t you dare tell him anything about that  _ damn  _ strawberry incident.” George laughs leaning back in the chair he was in,

“You’re awfully bold for a man who cried over strawberries, but who knows maybe Karl will find it cute. He’s a weird sap like that.” George smirks raising an eyebrow at no one in particular, “Maybe I would be doing you a favor hmm…” Sapnap sits himself down next to George,

“This is pitiful, you are an awful man, is this because you haven’t seen Dream? Is this some sick withdrawal you are taking out on me?” George’s face heats up at his words and he can tell Sapnap saw his reaction with the subsequent smirk that crawls its way onto the man’s face, “George oh my god you’re jealous that I get to see Karl and you don’t get to see Dream? This is so embarrassing for you,” George fires back,

“I am not! I just haven’t seen  _ anyone  _ in forever, and I’m not jealous, if anything I feel pity for Karl having to deal with you every day.” Sapnap glares a smile still on his face,

“Whatever you say… but seriously you should get out soon, the snow has let up a decent amount.” George nods leaning back to look at the ceiling,

“You’re right, I’ve done enough baking for a lifetime. I’m actually running out of some things shit.” Sapnap laughs walking back over to the door,

“If that’s it I should head back, just get out some time. I may hate you but I’m still your best friend.” George rolls his eyes with a smile,

“Fine you moron I’ll walk around later, maybe I’ll go visit someone.” Sapnap raises a teasing eyebrow as he says,

“Off to see Dream? Fine by me just be sure to-” George sighs rubbing his temple interrupting him,

“Don’t finish that Sapnap.” Sapnap cracks a massive grin laughing his way out of the door,

“Okay, George I’ll be going then!” George turns to look at the gentle snowfall as the door closes. He sees Sapnap pulling up his hood running back towards his house with a smile still on his face. George thinks he should bring them a strawberry cake.

George is laying on the floor of his bakery staring at the ceiling. He knows the floor isn’t the most comfortable spot, anyone would know that, but it felt nice. Reminded him of when he was younger, when he would giggle late at night rushing through the house just to lay down from exhaustion. He would pass out and somehow wake up in his own bed the next morning, the classic memories of innocence another one of his favorite feelings.

He’s missing one feeling though. He misses warmth. Where did it go?

He decides to get up, he doesn’t know how long he’s just been there thinking. He doesn’t like to say he’s much of a thinker per se, he just has his moments. George decides to just wander around cleaning what he can, daydreaming the entire time. Roses twirling around his brain with a man it couldn’t seem to let go of. 

The door once again opens and George turns to see familiar white fluffy hair,

“Oh hello Puffy,” Puffy grins back at him shaking her hair a bit before stepping inside,

“Heya George, how are you?” George walks over to his counter putting up the rag he was using mere seconds ago,

“Nothing much, the storm has gotten me pretty stuck, but would you like something? I have extra stock right now.” Puffy nods taking a look at the baskets around,

“Yes! I’m getting something for Niki, the storm has gotten her pretty sad this past

week so I need something to cheer her up.” Puffy looks back up at George, “Anything you suggest for that?” George looks away with a small cough when the sudden image of honey cookies flashes in his brain,

“Hm, do you remember her favorite? Or at least some flavor she really likes?” Puffy seemed to notice George’s small panic acknowledging it with an eyebrow raise,

“Well I don’t think she’s ever mentioned a favorite from here but I know she loves raspberry!” Puffy thinks for a moment rubbing her chin before adding, “Oh! And cinnamon it’s her favorite smell.” George nods,

“I could get a mix of raspberry and cinnamon scones I have in the back if you’d like?” Puffy nods her eyes lighting up, 

“That sounds perfect! Thank you!” George scrambles off to the back, his head spinning. Do people really light up like that when thinking about people they love? The slimy warmth was back, it wasn’t pleasant. He will never know if Dream lights up like that. Damned mask. 

He hands Puffy a basket filled with all the things she asks for,

“Here you go! I hope Niki will be feeling better soon.” Puffy nods looking loving down at the basket,

“I’ll make sure to give her all the care she needs to cheer up don’t worry.” George smiles softly at her but all of the sudden she looks back up at him something new shining in her eyes, “Oh! I forgot to ask how is Dream? Everyone has been wondering about him you know.” George can’t help blush at even the mention of the man, ‘ _ What the hell is wrong with me.’  _

“I’m not too sure actually, I have seen him since the storm started.” It’s been weeks, George knows because he thinks about the day at the lake all the time. It keeps him up at night. Puffy looks at him with something like sympathy in her eyes,

“Aw I’m sorry, you should go see him soon once the storm lets up, I’m positive he’s missing you!” George can’t help the flutter he feels in his chest as he whispers back,

“Do you think he does?” Puffy’s eyes go wide which is suddenly replaced with a sorry sort of look,

“George of course he does, that boy is all smitten for you.” Now it’s George’s eyes that go wide,

“Puffy what?” Puffy looks back at him a strange more stern look to her,

“Don’t you see it? He’s awfully charmed by you.” George just stares at her eyes shot open,

“Puffy I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about.” Puffy huffs,

“You are as dense as Sapnap says aren’t you?” George scoffs but Puffy continues unfazed, “Even if you don’t believe me that he’s taken with you at least you know you’re soft on him.” George’s face flushes,

“Puffy I’m  _ what _ .” Puffy looks at him with a mixture of concern and humor sewed across her face,

“You-? Jesus George, you really need to do some self-evaluation don’t ‘cha?” George’s face is positivity on fire as Puffy continues, because what the fuck. He’s not taken with Dream and Dream’s not taken with him. That’s it. Why is his face burning?

“Um, maybe I do?” Puffy laughs her smile taking over her entire face,

“Well, then George I hope you come to some sort of realization! See ya!” George waves as Puffy leaves with a tip of her captain’s hat leaving George to stew in whatever the hell just happened. George can’t cool his face down as he walks into the back putting some things away completely out of it,

“What the hell…”

George is staring at his ceiling. He lays in bed, arms spread out, his eyes still wide. His mind (and heart) hasn’t stopped racing since Puffy’s visit. He rolls onto his side facing the one window in his room,  _ ‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’  _ George immediately takes it back groaning, Puffy has a  _ wife  _ of course she knows what she’s talking about.

George refuses to accept it. He definitely knows she’s wrong about Dream, that was an honest mistake Dream was just shy and George was the only person he knew there. But for him? Puffy has known him for years, he has no excuses. 

He pauses staring at the fading sun from outside, it will be time to sleep soon. George can feel his heart patter as he tries to make some sort of idea of what the hell he’s feeling. 

He can feel the warmth, the natural feeling of Dream. He’s never really thought about it too much, the warmth that is. He thinks about Dream all the time. He closes his eyes with a sigh, what was the warmth? He felt like a fool, childish almost, for not being able to know. 

He thinks of the warmth in a good light, like running around a field of flowers falling just to be caught by the soft petals of flowers. Falling. Hm. 

Maybe it’s the warmth as in staring at the world from underwater, the way you see the sun sparkling from above onto the water making the world seem a bit off. The world would look perfect, the swirl of mystery about it, the glimmer. 

George feels it click, it swirls, it blooms. He drags his hands up to cover his face on fire again. It burns, he’s so confused, “Fuck…” It’s barely a whisper, no one will ever hear it. He dares to look out the window again seeing the moon haunting him. How could something glowing with such wonder do that? 

The moon reminds him of Dream just as the sun. The nights George would run under the moon just to see the other, the way the moonbeams reflected off the man’s hair. George wonders how it would reflect off his eyes, what color are they? George can only hope to see them one day, he wants to see everything about Dream clear as day. 

He wants Dream.

George turns his body over and focuses on the blue covers of his bed. He doesn’t think much, it’s already clicked there’s not much more to do. He can’t do anything, it’s late, he should rest. He closes his eyes with roses growing in his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come hangout on twitter lol i drop fun facts and updates about iagorr there!! @Bleeding_Cosmos


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought you guys would like to know that this story will never have random out of now here angst or fights. The worst you are ever getting is the mention of past parents who have passed (which is actually this chapter) because god I hate random angst and fights they are so annoying. It's all smooth sailing :)

The snow has cleared, the sun is shining. George grins at the small break in the snow they’d gotten today, it was supposed to snow more again later but he can’t bring himself to care. He was already off to the woods after all. George ran as fast as he possibly could grin on his face, hands empty, he decided he didn’t need the basket long ago. 

He can feel his heart beat faster when he starts to recognize the now worn path jutting off from the main one towards a glorious cobblestone wall. It had been a month, and an entire month, he’s back. It’s so impossibly warm again. George hikes himself over the wall immediately not even bothering to look and he whips around smile on his face,

“Dream!” Dream is there, he's right there sitting on the grass, he’s there. Dream hops up and immediately runs over to George grabbing him into a hug that surprises George,

“George! You’re back!” George laughs pulling Dream closer to him,

“Of course I am an idiot! What did I say about never leaving you? Did you forget that already?” Dream hugged him tighter and George can feel the man’s body shake with his laugh,

“I know, I just got scared.” George looks up at him being met with the cold mask and mutters,

“There’s nothing to be scared of, not with me.” He can practically feel Dream melt in his arms. They stay like that for a while just standing there George always has noticed Dream never let go first, it was cute. George frankly didn’t want to let go either but if he didn’t no one would. He took in as much warmth as he could from the other man before backing up a bit still letting Dream’s arms rest loosely around his waist. 

He sees Dream’s posture change a little, he seems sad so George smiles at him for reassurance. He sees Dream perk up a bit after the smile and George turns to look out and the garden and  _ oh _ . It’s all dead. 

The flowers are crumpled and dry, their stems drooping. George walks away from Dream crouching down by the flowers feeling the brittle petals in his hands. George felt strangely sad watching the petals fall through his fingers falling to the ground like soft ashes. He knows the flowers would die, as all flowers do, but he didn’t expect  _ this _ . The look of barren branches, the crumpled leaves, the emptiness. It hurt his heart, he turns his head when he hears Dream speak up,

“They’ve been dead for a while since you were gone.” He pauses, something about the air around him changing, “I haven’t stopped coming to the garden, it was hard watching them die.” George stands ups facing him a frown on his face,

“You didn’t have to Dream, you must have been freezing out here!” Dream shrugs,

“But I did, I couldn’t miss you if you came.” George huffs,

“Missing one of my visits would be better than you freezing to death out here Dream.” Dream walks around to Georges side,

“That’s debatable.” George rolls his eyes with a smile,

“You idiot you’re such a charmer aren’t you? Freezing death for a boy how silly.” Dream turns to look at him laughing with him musing,

“To be fair the boy is very pretty, so I say it’s worth it.” The went straight to George’s head, heart thudding he replies,

“Oh is he now?” Dream chuckles looking at the sky saying,

“He is! He’s the prettiest man I’ve ever seen.” George can feel that his face is positively on fire,

“Well then I guess it was worth it, maybe you should freeze for the pretty boy.” Dream laughs deciding to sit himself against a cobblestone wall the looks over the dead assortment of flowers littering the place,

“If he asked I would.” George looks at him with a mock face of disgust as he goes to sit next to him,

“You are scarily devoted, calm down a bit.” Dream shrugs once again with a laugh not saying anything. They sat for a while, the silence was comforting. 

George stared at the petals on the ground. He thought about the way Dream was laying on the ground. He looks quite sad, almost pitiful even if he could but that was just body language, right? George looks at Dream who seems to be focused on the petals again his shoulders hunched over. Oh. George looks away and asks, “Why were you ever out here?” Dream whips his head around,

“What do you mean?” George leans back fiddling with the dead grass,

“This place, Dream, you’re a prince you have better things to do than sit around in an overgrown garden.” Dream drags his knees to his chin,

“Oh, well, it’s a sad story.” George drags his knees up as well laying his head on top of them to look at Dream,

“Is it?” Dream nods and with a sigh responds,

“Quite.” George scoots the tiniest bit closer to him,

“Would you like to tell me about it?” The beady eyes of Dream’s mask bore into his,

“Are you sure?” George smiles,

“Of course, I would love to hear it no matter how sad.” Dream sighs and leans back, running a hand through his hair,

“You obviously know the queen is dead, so my mother.” George nods he can already see Dream tense up, “Well these flowers they were, uh, planted in her honor by me and my father, flowers were her favorite.” George looks at the sky, he can’t say much. He knew the queen died a while ago it was heartbreaking for everyone, she was a good woman, but now he’s talking to her  _ son _ ,

“I’m so sorry Dream.” Dream shakes his head and looks at the sky as well,

“Don’t apologize, you actually helped.” George sits up more,

“Huh?” Dream looks down front the sky at his hands,

“This place used to be awful to come to, awful memories and all, but now-” He looks at George, “-It’s where I met you.” George can feel his ears flush and looks and Dream who’s just staring at him, “I’ve replaced all the negative feelings in my heart with this place with better, nicer things.” he looks around till he’s facing a familiar rock, “Remember that? When you were on the rock in the sun and told me how nice it was? It made me so, I don’t know, happy? I’m not sure, but it was good, very good,” George does in fact remember, it was the first feeling Dream had made him realize, the first one he had shown him,

“Mhm, I do.” Dream sets his hand back down by George’s just inches away,

“Well, now I just became  _ excited  _ to come here! Crazy isn’t it?” George nods, opening his mouth to respond but he clamps his jaw shut when he feels fingers intertwine with his, “My mother would have loved you, George.” George is still trying to get over the fact that their palms fit together so perfectly when he’s hit with  _ that _ . He can barely croak out,

“You think? She seemed lovely.” Dream grips George’s hand tighter and with a sad laugh replies,

“She was, you were the type of person she always wanted me to meet.” George frankly had no clue what that meant, but he felt no need to ask as he hums back,

“I’m glad then.” They don’t talk after that, George simply lets Dream clutch onto his hand even if it’s shaking the tiniest bit. George doesn’t mind, he just rubs his thumb along Dream’s hand and looks off into nowhere in particular. 

George is a bit startled when Dream suddenly stands up, he seems to have forgotten their hands are connected dragging George up with him. George practically yelps,

“Dream! What!?” Dream whips around and walks over with a soft voice,

“Sorry! I just remembered an idea I was excited about! Are you okay?” George rubs his shoulder. It was completely fine. George is just dramatic. George looks up and asks,

“It’s fine, what is your idea?” Dream hums swinging one of his legs as he says,

“I was wondering about something, um,” Dream’s head turns to face him. He was radiating a nervous energy but it was somehow different from earlier, “I was just wondering if you would like to stay here? In the castle?” Holy shit. George can’t say anything as he just stares at Dream his jaw dropped. It’s probably embarrassing but there is so much more happening he doesn’t seem to care as he sputters out,

“What?” Dream nervously wrings his hands together ad he clarifies,

“Well, not  _ all  _ the time! Unless you want to stay here all the time, but sometimes, like a job? I don’t know, you could leave whenever you want is what I mean, but also live here. Two homes.” George brings his hands up to his face,

“Jesus Dream,” Dream walks over and as gently as he possibly could brings George’s hands down from his face intertwines their fingers once again, and asks,

“Will you?” George’s face is on fire he can’t speak all he can do is shrug. Dream sees that grip on George’s hands loosening a bit. George tries to gather himself blurting out,

“I don’t know!” Dream tilts his head as George fumbles over his words, “I just- that’s the castle Dream! I understand you’re the prince and all but…” George finishes with a whisper, “I haven’t even seen you without your mask.” George isn’t strange for his reaction, who would trust a man they’ve never seen? But then again, this was Dream and Dream pipes up,

“Is that it?” George looks back up at him with a,

“Huh?” Dream shakes his head,

“George if that’s it… I could do that for you.” George freezes up eyes wide as Dream releases his hands with a final squeeze going to the clasp behind his mask. George is finally about to say something, he has no idea what he was going to say as he hears a soft click and the mask falls off his face. 

And Dream had the nerve to call George the prettiest man he’s ever seen. George stares in shock as he takes in everything about Dream, whose eyes are currently searching George’s, a nervous smile on his face. Jesus his  _ smile  _ was a little crooked and so charming, though everything about him is. George can feel himself walk closer, his eyes darting over every feature of Dream, his eyes were green of course, how unlucky for George. He looks close and noticed everything he could, the color of Dream’s eyes actually changed a bit in the middle, the spattering of freckles strewn across his face, the way there was a small scar over his nose, he wonders where it’s from. 

George can’t help but notice the look Dream was giving him, it took the breath out of him. It was something inexplicably soft, so reserved, just for them. George whispers out,

“Have you always looked at me like that?” Dream smiles his gaze going impossibly softer,

“God yes.” George decides then and there he loves him. He loves Dream. George grabs Dream into a hug without saying anything just taking in his warmth, his heart beating out of his chest. He loves him. 

Dream hugs him back placing his head on top of George’s, “Will you do it? Will you stay with me?” George isn’t sure he can even speak, he might even feel tears burning in his eyes, he’s never been one to deal with emotions well. But for this, he can choke out,

“Yes- yes I will.” Dream hugs him even tighter and basically knocking all the air out of George  _ again _ ,

“You can come and go whenever you’d like, there’s already a room for you after all.” George smiles into the hug as he remembers the night Dream was so careful with him when he was sick,

“I have to stay in the guest wing? How cruel.” George is pushing it, the guest wing was anywhere nicer than he’d been in his entire life, but Dream didn’t have to know that. Dream backs up the tiniest bit to look down at George eyes sparkling as he says,

“Would you like to stay somewhere else?” George hums,

“Where do you stay?” Dream looks down an eyebrow raised a smile still on his face,

“I stay in the royal quarters of course.” George looks down at his feet sadness seeping into his voice,

“Oh, that’s right. I guess I won’t be able to stay near you then.” He can feel Dream take in a sharp breath then look down at him with eyes wide as he says,

“Would you like to stay near me?” George nods still somewhat shell-shocked as Dream continues, “I can get that worked out, you can come to pick a room tomorrow how does that sound?” George nods into their hug once again not daring to let go,

“That sounds lovely, should I bring some things?” George can feel a gentle hand in his hair combing through it as Dream replies,

“Mhm, just whatever you see fit.” George mumbles,

“I don’t even know what to bring, I don’t own a lot. If you didn’t know I’m actually just a humble baker your highness.” Dream laughs placing his face on top of George’s head,

“You’ll be provided with whatever you wish my humble baker, you will be spoiled with all the riches of the land.” George’s face is completely flushed he can feel it as he replies,

“You  _ bastard _ , you can’t just say things like that...” Dream chuckles as he asks,

“Why not?” George can’t even feign annoyance as he finally pulls back looking into shimmering eyes,

“Because I know you mean it.” Dream beams at him.

George had decided he needed to head back home, it was starting to get dark. They hadn’t talked much after that, it wasn’t awkward at all, it was peaceful. George walked off with a wave and a farewell and an unmasked smile that made George’s heart flutter. 

He’s was walking down the road as he realizes he is about to live  _ in the fucking castle _ . It hits all at once. What the hell was Sapnap going to think? Or any of his friends for that matter? It would be strange, he would have to tell them the prince willingly invited him to just live with him no strings attached, they would think George is insane. Maybe he is. 

George decided to make a plan in his head, he would only go seem Dream on off days, maybe only two or three days at a time, maybe when he’s lonely. Dream obviously didn’t think he was going to want to live there permanently. George has a life in his village and an entire bakery. It was nice though, a getaway to the castle whenever he’d like, it was some sort of fantasy. A fantasy with the man he has happened to fall in love with. 

George never regrets falling into that garden but it’s times like these, on cold days walking through the freezing woods with a now explainable warmth pooling in his stomach when he’s thankful for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are ofc always appreciated! Any questions or u just want updates or insider info on this fic just follow me on twitter @Bleeding_Cosmos :D ! !


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